A vocational expert can have an impact on your eligibility and continued access to disability benefits. Knowing what a vocational expert is and how they influence disability claim decisions is important. Learning more about this may help you better navigate the complex process of applying for disability insurance. Talk to a Philadelphia individual disability insurance lawyer for help if your disability claim was denied.

What Do Vocational Experts Do?

A vocational expert has multiple responsibilities for the Social Security Administration (SSA) when it comes to disability claims. Vocational experts come into play during hearings before an administrative law judge. These hearings re-examine denied disability claims to determine whether someone is eligible for disability benefits.

The main goal of a vocational expert is to provide a professional opinion on how a disability affects someone’s job skills. This can be broken down into investigating physical and mental job demands, work setting characteristics, access to jobs, and transferable job skills. For these reasons, vocational experts are usually up to date on job options and availability.

During an administrative law judge hearing, a vocational expert will answer questions related to job skills. Many of these questions will revolve around whether someone applying for disability benefits can still do prior or future work. Vocational experts do not provide opinions on medical issues, just on job options.

How Vocational Factors Impact Your Disability Claim

The SSA and disability insurance companies often consider vocational factors when deciding whether to approve disability claims. These vocational factors include age, education, and work history. Specifically, these vocational factors are examined when looking at:

• Whether residual functional capacity impairs past work performance
• Occupational base
• Ability to perform other types of work

In some cases, a disability claim might be approved sooner if specific combinations of vocational factors are met. Common examples include those who cannot continue arduous work due to severe disabilities, no work experience, limited education, and those who are aged 60 or older. If someone can still perform past work, then the disability claim is often rejected.

The next phase examines occupational base, the number of jobs someone can perform despite having a disability. Other vocational factors like age and education are used to determine how well this person could adapt to new types of work. Job skill transferability is considered but does not include job skills that are deemed more complex than past job skills.

The relationships between residual functional capacity, age, education level, and past work experience are all considered during this process. When someone can perform other types of work despite having a disability, the disability claim is usually denied. Consider contacting a Philadelphia disability lawyer for more information and guidance on how these processes work. A lawyer might be able to help you increase your chances.

Contact Edelstein & Nelson for Legal Aid

Going through the process of applying for disability benefits can be complicated. Feel free to ask a Philadelphia denied benefits appeal attorney for guidance if your disability claim was denied. Call Edelstein & Nelson at (800) 300-0909 for a consultation today about your legal options. Our team of lawyers are ready to help you take steps to increase your chances of receiving disability benefits.