SOCIAL SECURITY 5-STEP DISABILITY PROCESS: STEP 5

There are 5 sequential steps in the decision making process for Social Security disability.  Each step must be considered in order.  Here, we are going to discuss Step 5 in the process, which is the last step.

STEP 5

The question at Step 5 is this:  Does there exist any job in the U.S. economy that the claimant can still perform?

If the answer is yes, and the claimant is under 50 years of age, the claim will be denied.

Step 5 usually applies only to younger individuals who are under the age of 50, certainly younger than 55.

So, let's assume that a claimant age 45 has been unable to perform his past relevant work at Step 4.  Perhaps all of the past work required a lot of lifting, bending, standing or walking, which the claimant can no longer do.  So, the judge finds that past work is not possible now.  But, there is Step 5 yet to be considered.

So, are there other jobs that this claimant would be able to perform?  For example, could he do the work of a ticket taker, a photo copier operator or an order taker?  If so, his benefit will be denied.  Even though he cannot perform any of his past work, there are still some jobs that he is able to perform.  So, it is a denied case.

An individual age 50 or older often will not get to step 5, because his or her case will be decided back at Step 4.  An older age category can be very favorable to the claimant in Social Security cases.

But if you are younger than 50 and your case gets down to Step 5, you must be unable to perform any work which exists in the U.S. economy in significant numbers.

The only thing considered at Step 5 is:  Is the claimant able to perform any full-time job?  The following things cannot be considered:

• I can't find a job like that around my town.
• No one will hire me for that kind of job.
• I don't want to do that kind of work.
• Those jobs don't pay enough to live on.
• I don't have transportation to get to and from work.
• The economy is so poor that those jobs are not hiring.

So, Step 5 is perhaps the most difficult of all the steps in the disability process.  Claimants who wind up here are usually under age 55 (often under 50) and may have some restrictions, yet they are able to do certain kinds of full-time work available in the national economy.

So, who wins their cases at Step 5?  The winners are individuals with very severe and very limiting medical conditions that prevent performance of even the easiest jobs.  Think of the easiest job you can imagine.  Think of the job with the least amount of lifting, standing, walking, pushing, or pulling.  If you can perform that job, or one like it, you are not disabled according to Social Security's rules.

It's always best to go to a Social Security hearing with your lawyer or advocate to represent you.  Hearings are so complex and technical that it takes an experienced representative to make sense of them and protect your rights.  Your attorney will always make a better case for approval than you will.  
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