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You Might Be Surprised to Learn How a Worker’s Skill Level Can Impact Their Ability to Be Approved for SSDI

To be approved for SSDI, you will need to show that you cannot work as you did before your disability. Proving this is the job of your Social Security Disability attorney. Your medical condition must be severe enough to interfere with your capacity to do job-related duties and there must be evidence to show this.

In some cases, you could be unable to do your current job but SSA considers you entirely capable of doing another job. They will determine this based on your previous skill level at your job and other occupations they believe you can do with your current disability.

SSA assigns skill levels to applicants

You must be sure to accurately fill out all forms when applying for SSDI. This will include describing your job duties. The Social Security Administration will then use this information when they assign a skill level to you. Your attorney can help you draft this description to ensure it is accurate and tells the whole story.

You will be put into one of three skill levels

There are several job skill levels that SSA will consider. They make these determinations based on how long it takes someone to learn a skill and what the specifics of the jobs are. These are the three main categories:

  • Unskilled work. This type of job that does not require any judgment (or very little judgment) from the people who complete it. It takes less than a month to learn these jobs and they often require a lot of strength to complete. This type of job generally does not help a person achieve valuable personalized skills.
  • Semi-skilled jobs do not involve complex job responsibilities. However, those in semi-skilled positions must have a great attention to detail, dexterity, and coordination. These are people who generally are used to completely repetitive motions. The SSA considers that these jobs take three to six months to learn.
  • Skilled work requires both judgment and an understanding of mechanical activities. It often involves making a product or providing a service. Skilled work also commonly requires that workers interact closely with their co-workers. It is common for jobs in this category to deal with facts, figures, and ideas.

When SSA is determining how to put a person into one of the above categories, they use what’s known as the Specific Vocational Preparation, or SVP. This is a system of grading that is based on looking at how long a worker trained to learn their job. Again, unskilled workers are those who needed less than one month of training, semi-skilled workers needed one to six months of training, and as skilled worker took more than six months to learn their job.

The SSA uses the results of this classification to determine if there is alternative work that you could get involved in. They will consider that you can do work that is either equal to the level you were working before or below it. This means that a person who is considered unskilled can only be considered capable of working in unskilled jobs, while those who are determined to be skilled are considered capable to work in any of the three categories of jobs.

The bad news is that being “too skilled” could cause someone’s SSDI application to be denied. The good news is that you have PLBH here to help you. We can assist with all steps of the process, including appealing an SSDI decision. Call us now at (800) 435-7542 for help.