WHAT IS A "STEP 4" DENIAL?

Social Security must use a sequential process to decide whether an individual is disabled.  The process has 5 steps.

STEP 4 must determine whether a claimant is able to perform any of his or her past relevant work (PRW).  PRW is defined as any job performed during the past fifteen years at the level of substantial gainful activity.  In short, the term excludes part-time work and some jobs that were not performed long enough to learn the work.

If Social Security finds that a claimant is able to perform some past relevant work (at least one job), the claim will be denied.  This is referred to as a Step 4 denial.

Obviously, the easiest job in a person's work history is the most worrisome. The easier a claimant's past work was, the more likely he or she can still perform that job.  The harder or more exertional the job was, the less likely it can still be performed.

So, when it comes to a disability claim, not only the medical history is important; the work history is also very important.

If the claimant can perform any past relevant work, Step 4 denies the claim.  If no past relevant work can be performed, the claim is not approved yet.  We will now go to Step 5, the final step, which will be discussed in another post.