Sequential evaluation process

If applicant has met her burdens of production and proof at Steps 1-4 of sequential evaluation, then SSA has burden at Step 5 of coming forward with evidence of specific jobs in the national economy that the applicant can still perform. ALJ met burden at Step 5 to come forward with evidence by…

cert. denied 534 U.S. 1085 122 S.Ct. 822, 151 L.Ed.2d 704 (1/7/2002). Determination by Appeals Council that new evidence is not material is reviewable by Federal Court under Service v. Dulles, 354 U.S. 363, 1 L.Ed.2d 1403, 77 S.Ct. 1152 (1957) standard - i.e., decision is reviewable to extent that…

At Step 5, SSA bears burden to come forward with evidence showing that there are jobs the claimant can do despite limitations. Since SSA is not represented as a litigant, it is better to think of Step 5 not as a shifting of burdens, but as a rule that the claimant is not under any obligation to…

At Step 4, the ALJ is entitled to credit the claimant's own description of her past work and her functional limitations, but the ALJ has some burden independently to develop the record. Citing Santiago, 944 F.2d 1 (1st Cir. 1991). Remand. Illegibility of non-trivial parts of medical record,…

Findings of medical equivalence must be based on medical findings that are at least equal in severity and duration to the listed findings.

At Step 4, claimant will be found not disabled when she retains the RFC to perform the actual functional demands and job duties of a particular past relevant job, as she performed it. The claimant is the primary source for vocational documentation. It's claimant's duty to describe her…

Regulations provide that in order to receive widow(er)s benefits, impairments must meet or equal a listing, and that age, education and work experience are not to be considered in disability determination. Court holds that residual functional capacity cannot be ignored in considering medical…

Dysthymic disorder is severe impairment. To determine the severity of a mental impairment, an ALJ must rate the degree of functional loss in four areas that the SSA has identified as essential to work: 1) activities of daily living; 2) social functioning; 3) concentration, persistence, or pace; and…

ALJ adequately developed record for pro se claimant. ALJ used correct standard for assessing severity.

Transportation to Work. At Step 4, test is whether claimant has ability to return to past relevant work performed at substantial gainful activity level. Past insubstantial activity cannot demonstrate an ability to perform SGA. Available at DLC. Deference owed to ALJ’s credibility…

Step 2 (sequential evaluation) severity requirement is hereinafter to be a de minimus policy, designed to do no more than to screen out groundless claims. Various non-severe impairments viewed in combination may be disabling. SSR 85-28. See "severity" for discussion. Various non-severe…

Vocatoinal Factors. Stress. "Stress is not a characteristic of a job, but instead reflects an individual's subjective response to a particular situation ... Without an evaluation of Lancellotta's vocational abilities in light of his anxiety disorder, there is no basis for the ALJ's…

Approves administrative notice of occupational reference materials for information regarding various types of work. Court notes that the 4th circuit has held that the Secretary may rely on general categories in the Supplement to the DOT as presumptively applicable to the claimant's past work.…

"Good cause" for remand due to Secretary's failure to develop record. ALJ is not at liberty to substitute his own impression of an individual's health for uncontroverted medical opinion. Given unchallenged diagnosis of chronic schizophrenia, coupled with uncontradicted testimony…

ALJ is not at liberty to substitute her own opinions of an individual's health for uncontroverted medical evidence. ALJ erred in discrediting IQ scores where such test results are the only evidence on the point before the ALJ. It was error for ALJ to conclude that IQ score of 63 must be invalid…

Although claimant's profit was not significant and may be attributable in part to the gratuitous assistance he received from others, this does not prevent a finding that the activity was gainful and that profit resulted in part from his efforts. Supervisory, managerial, advisory or other…

ALJ can base adverse decision on claimant's ability to do past work which claimant did more than 15 years ago, the 15 year limit applies only to transferability under a grid analysis, and the grid comes into play only after a finding that the claimant cannot perform past work.

The burden of showing the existence of other jobs in the national economy that the claimant can perform (Step 5) rests on the Secretary. Cert. denied, 461 U.S. 958, 103 S.Ct. 2432, 77 L.Ed.2d 1318 (1983). Good explanation of purpose and use of the Grids. The Grids are based on a claimant's…

Court gives qualified approval to Grids as valid exercise of Secretary's statutory authority. Secretary may, using Grids, take administrative notice that substantial gainful work existed in the national economy for a person with claimant's impairment, background, age and education. Where a…

Court consider the medical opinion given by one or more physicians designated by the Secretary in deciding medical equivalence. Disability finding for widow's benefits requires meeting or medical equivalence to a listed impairment. It is for the Secretary, not the court, to resolve conflicts in…

Environmental Conditions at Work. At Step 4, the claimant bears the burden of showing that he cannot return to his previous work. At Step 5, the burden shifts to the Secretary to show the existence of other jobs in the national economy that the claimant can nonetheless perform. To meet her initial…

Fact that claimant failed to seek medical treatment was arguably inconsistent with his complaint of pain and lent credence to suspicions that he may have been exaggerating. Only when claimant meets his burden to establish that he's unable to return to his former work is there a need for SSA to…