What is a “Maximum Residual Functional Capacity” (RFC) and why should I care about my residual functional capacity?

The Social Security Administration (SSA) uses the Grids to answer the question of whether you are disabled by looking at a combination of factors. These factors include what is called you residual functional capacity, age, education, and your transferable skills. It is not the simple question of whether you can work or whether any employer would hire you!

The first factor is to determine what your maximum residual functional capacity is in view of your disability.

The  Social Security Administration (SSA) use a dictionary you have never head of called the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) in evaluating your case. This isn’t a dictionary like Webster’s! The Dictionary of Occupational Titles lists all the jobs you have heard of… and many you haven’t. It also classifies the physical  demands of jobs into categories such as sedentary, light, medium, and heavy work.

In applying the Girds, the SSA first looks at the physical restrictions assigned to you by your doctor and determines whether your current physical restrictions limit you to sedentary, light, medium, or heavy work. That is why it is so very important that your doctor comment on your physical abilities in your medical records. We have your doctor fill out a physical residual functional capacity form based on your type of disability.

If your doctor won’t comment or refuses to fill out a form commenting on your physical limitations, SSA will have one of their consulting doctors estimate what your physical abilities are for disability purposes. More often than not, I see  SSA doctor assigning physical restrictions that result in you being found NOT disabled.

If your exertional limits fall between sedentary or light or even less than sedentary, the Girds do not generally apply. Unless the Grids directing the SSA find you disabled, you want OUT of the Grids. The way to do that is fully develop with your doctor’s help your true level of physical functioning and physical restrictions and limitations. For more information, and for more help with your claim, click here or call 727-894-3188.

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At Hurdle 5: Other Work, you must deal with the Medical – Vocational Guidelines – The Grids. There are 4  factors in the Grids:

(1) Age

(2) Education

(3) Previous Work Experience

(4) Maximum Residual Functional Capacity

If your profile matches one of the rules in the Medical – Vocational Guidelines – The Grids, the rule is binding on the Social Security Administration (SSA) .

If that rule says you are not disabled, you will lose. However, properly developing these 4 factors may make the difference between winning or losing your claim for Social Security Disability. For more information, and for more help with your claim, click here or call 727-894-3188.

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Once you have proven you can’t do your past relevant work (PRW), you move to the last and highest hurdle, Hurdle 5: Other Work.

This is a complicated hurdle. You must prove that you are unable to do other work that exists in significant numbers in the national economy taking into consideration your level of physical functioning, age, education, and work experience. The Social Security Administration (SSA) has a tool called the Medical Vocational Guidelines which is also known as the Grids.

The Grids are biased toward older individuals, those with less than a high school education, or non-English speakers. In less than 5 seconds, we can look at the Grids and tell you if you would meet Hurdle 5. If your profile matches the Grids, the court must follow the Grid. That could mean you are not disabled based on a rote application of an impersonal process.

However, if your profile differs from the profile in the Grid, the Grid is not binding. It is only a “framework” for the disability decision. If your exertional level falls between sedentary, light, or medium, you don’t meet the framework. If you can’t do the full range of sedentary work, you don’t meet the framework. If you have mental, sensory or skin impairments, postural or manipulative limitations, or environmental limitations, you don’t meet the framework.

A key to winning your case is to develop the necessary evidence to show you don’t meet the Grid framework. This will require the assistance of your doctor and testimony from you about your limitations. For more information, and for more help with your claim, click here or call 727-894-3188.

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Most applicants will meet the Hurdle 1, Substantial Gainful Activity, and Hurdle 2, Severe Impairment. Since most do not meet Hurdle 3, Listing of Impairments, the usual case moves to Hurdle 4, Past Relevant Work (PRW).

You must prove that you can’t do the lightest job you have done in the last 15 years. What was the easiest job you did? Can you still do that job? If so, the Social Security Administration (SSA) will find that you are not disabled. If you can do the job as it is ordinarily done, you are not disabled.

When you fill out forms as a part of your application, make sure you explain why you can’t do the lightest job you held in the last 15 years by explaining how your disability limits your ability to do that job. For more information, and for more help with your claim, click here or call 727-894-3188.

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The very first hurdle you must meet is whether you are working or not. If you are not working, your meet Hurdle 1 and move to Hurdle 2: The Severity Step.

If your are working and performing substantial gainful activity (SGA), you will not be found disabled regardless of how impaired you might be. The work must be both substantial and gainful. The Social Security regulations define “substantial gainful activity” as significant physical or mental activity. If you can’t do the ordinary or simple task without more supervision or assistance that is normally given, do work that involves minimal duties that make little demand on you, or are of little or no use to an employer, the work is not substantial.

Whether work is gainful is determined by looking at how much you make before taxes each month. If you make more than $900.00 per month gross, that work will be considered gainful by the Social Security Administration and your claim will be denied at Hurdle 1.

If you are not engaged in substantial gainful activity, you have met Hurdle 1. For more information, and for more help with your claim, click here or call 727-894-3188.

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