What Is Social Security’s Work History Report

You can improve your chances of getting disability benefits by providing a detailed work history to the Social Security Administration (SSA). The Social Security claims examiner will use the information you provide on the Work History Report (Form SSA-3368) to determine what kind of work you can still do.

Why Your Employment History Is Important

It’s important to include as much detail as you can about each job you had so that the claims examiner gets a clear picture of the following:

Job description: your job titles, the specific tasks you performed, the skills needed to do the job, and the work environment.

Physical requirements: how much you had to walk, stand, climb, sit, lift, and carry; how much you had to kneel, bend, stoop, and crawl; and how you used your hands.

Challenges you faced on the job: extra help you needed to perform your work duties, and if you had to reduce your work hours due to your medical condition, or take frequent sick days or rest breaks.

Your medical condition’s effect on your ability to perform the job: including how your medical condition affected your job performance, when you had to stop work, and why you had to stop.

How to Fill Out the Work History Report

The work history form asks for your job history over the past 15 years, with space for you to list up to 10 jobs. List every paid job you had—even part-time work. The work history report includes a separate page for each job you listed, where you’ll share the details of the job, including:

• your job title
• your pay rate
• hours you worked per day
• your job description (everything you did each day)
• specific job skills needed
• physical requirements (like how long you needed to stand or how much you had to lift and how often), and
• whether you had a manager role.

Be sure to provide accurate contact information for past supervisors. The claims examiner might need to call them to discuss the demands of a particular position you’ve listed on your work history, as well as any specific skill sets you might or might not have gained.

How Social Security Will Use Your Work History

The claims examiner will look closely at the requirements of your prior jobs to see if you should be able to return to one of them or if your impairment prevents you from doing each job. If the examiner doesn’t know the true requirements of each job you had, the examiner might think you’re able to do a job when you’re not.

If the disability examiner agrees you can’t do your prior work, he or she will next look at your age, education, and prior skills to see if you can learn any other work. To do this, the examiner must know what job skills you gained from previous jobs. Without a detailed work history, a disability examiner has to guess at the tasks associated with prior jobs.

For example, if you were a secretary 10 years ago, the examiner could assume that you can type 65 wpm and could find other jobs you could do that require this skill. You don’t want the claims examiner to assume you have skills you don’t. If the examiner knows you don’t have certain skills, the jobs the SSA would assume you can do would be much more limited.

That’s why it’s important to describe in detail what your work was like at each job.

Please contact our office for a free evaluation!

Social Security Disability Benefits for Lupus

Lupus is a chronic disease that can cause inflammation and pain in any part of your body. It is considered an autoimmune disease, which means that your immune system — the body system that usually fights infections — attacks healthy tissue instead. Lupus most commonly affects your skin, joints, and internal organs. Because it can affect many parts of the body, it can cause a variety of different symptoms, such as: fatigue, headaches, joint pain, fever, edema, hair loss, and abnormal blood clotting.

Nobody knows what causes lupus, but it and other autoimmune diseases do tend to run in families. Experts also think it may develop in response to certain hormones or environmental triggers. An environmental trigger is something outside the body that can bring on symptoms of lupus — or make them worse. Lupus is not contagious.

There are two ways you can qualify for Social Security Disability benefits for lupus. You can either (1) meet the requirements of a listing set out in Social Security’s list of qualifying impairments, or (2) show that you are unable to work due to your limitations.

Lupus is one of the diseases specifically notated in Social Security’s listing of impairments. To qualify as disabled under this listing, you must meet the following requirements:

• Your lupus must affect at least two body systems or organs, (such as the kidneys and the lungs, or the heart and the brain), with at least one involved to a moderate level of severity; and
• Your lupus must cause at least two of the following symptoms: severe fatigue, fever, malaise (feelings of physical discomfort or illness resulting in low physical or mental activity), and/or involuntary weight loss.

OR

• You must have repeated symptoms of lupus, with at least two of the symptoms above, resulting in one of the following limitations at the marked level: 
  • Limitations of activities of daily living
  • Limitation in maintaining social functioning
  • Limitation in completing tasks in a timely manner due to lack of focus or ability to work quickly.

You can also qualify for Social Security Disability for lupus if you can prove that you are unable to work due to the health problems caused by lupus. For example, an individual with lupus might have the following physical symptoms: fatigue, chest pain, shortness of breath, headaches, and abnormal heart rhythms. These limitations can make it difficult to stand or walk for a lengthy period of time, which rules out many jobs. Furthermore, those with lupus may suffer personality changes, including anxiety and depression, and may have difficulty concentrating or have increased forgetfulness. Social Security will take these limitations into account when deciding if the applicant can do even simple, routine tasks that don’t require skill. 

Contact our office today if you or anyone you know would like to learn more about qualifying for Social Security Disability benefits.

Learn more about lupus: https://www.lupus.org/resources/what-is-lupus 

Adult Listing for lupus: https://www.ssa.gov/disability/professionals/bluebook/14.00-Immune-Adult.htm#14_02 

By: Devon Brady of Premier Disability Services, LLC®

Can Getting Help From an SSDI Expert Speed Up Your Case?

Hiring an advocate to represent you during the Social Security disability application and appeals process might speed up the process. While having an advocate doesn’t put you on a special fast track, disability advocates know a thing or two that can get a faster decision on your claim.

Getting Approved at the Application Stage

The fastest way to receive benefits is to get an approval from Social Security on your original application for disability benefits. If you miss this chance, you’ll have to appeal the decision, which can take more than a year. When you have an advocate’s expertise in knowing what Social Security is looking for, you have a better chance of winning benefits during the initial application process.

If you can find an advocate to represent you at this stage, they can:

• fill out your application so that it clearly demonstrates how you “meet a listing” (or equal a listing) or are not able to perform any work
• remove or explain any inconsistencies that might hurt your claim
• gather the right medical evidence to show that you have the impairments you claim to have, and
• request help from your doctor in a way that will help your case (using the terminology Social Security is looking for).

Without help, applicants often make mistakes that are hard to correct, from overestimating what they can still do to overstating past job skills.

An advocate, however, will likely only take your case at this early stage if they think you have a good chance of winning.

Getting You Approved Without a Hearing

If your original application is denied, the next fastest way to receive benefits is to have an “on the record” (OTR) decision. Instead of waiting for a hearing, an advocate or attorney who specializes in Social Security disability can:

• write a clear and concise brief that explains why you should receive benefits
• try to obtain information from your doctor that’s been requested by Social Security
• write and submit a proposed decision for the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), and
• speak to the Attorney Adjudicator about the merits of your case.

Is Getting an Expert’s Help Worth It?

While there are few magic ways to speed up your Social Security disability application, hiring an advocate or attorney can help increase your likelihood of being approved for benefits at each stage, which means less time waiting to receive your benefits.

Contact Us Now for a free evaluation!