Imagine being told that you’re not eligible for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits and even “not disabled” because you’re physically able to do a job that no one does any longer – like cutting articles out of a newspaper? (Many younger people wouldn’t even know what that means.) Maybe a person is denied benefits because they’re able to do a job that was long ago outsourced to another country where people are paid a percentage of what American workers would have to be paid.
For years, however, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has used long-outdated lists of jobs to determine whether someone who’s applying for or currently on SSDI is eligible to receive benefits. Many of the obsolete jobs used to deny benefits require little or no physical exertion.
Although the SSA has long known about the problem, it’s continued to use these lists that aren’t even used by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) any longer. Things now seem to be changing.
The SSA’s announcement
Earlier this summer, the SSA announced that it will no longer use jobs “that exist in very limited numbers, if at all”…[to] support a ‘not disabled’ finding at the last step in the evaluation process for disability determinations.” Neither will “occupations where federal courts have questioned supporting evidence of a ‘not disabled’ finding.” The head of the SSA said that “our decision makers will no longer cite these jobs when denying a disability application.”
Certainly, this and other recent policy changes announced by the SSA should improve the ability of Americans to get SSDI as well as Supplemental Security Income (SSI) when they need it. However, it doesn’t mean the end of all wrongful denials. That’s why if you believe that you or a loved one was wrongly denied benefits, it’s smart to get legal guidance to protect your rights and navigate the SSA.
