What Does It Mean to Sustain Competitive Employment?

What Does It Mean to Sustain Competitive Employment?

Why Working Occasionally Is Not the Same as Working Full-Time in Social Security Disability and Alabama Workers’ Compensation Cases

One of the biggest misconceptions about disability is the belief that a person must be completely incapable of doing any work before qualifying for benefits.

That simply is not the law.

Many individuals applying for Social Security Disability benefits can still perform certain activities.

Some can drive.

Some can prepare meals.

Some can shop for groceries.

Others may even be capable of performing portions of their former jobs for short periods of time.

The real question, however, is much more demanding:

Can you perform work on a regular, reliable, and continuing basis in a competitive work environment?

That distinction often determines the outcome of both Social Security Disability claims and Alabama workers’ compensation cases involving permanent vocational disability.

Working Sometimes Is Not the Same as Maintaining Employment

Imagine two individuals with chronic back injuries.

The first can mow the lawn for thirty minutes before needing to rest for several hours.

The second can occasionally help a friend with light office work for an hour or two but must lie down afterward because of severe pain.

Both individuals are capable of performing some work-related activities.

Neither example, however, necessarily demonstrates an ability to maintain competitive employment.

Competitive employment generally requires far more than performing isolated tasks.

Employers expect workers to:

• arrive on time;
• remain productive throughout the workday;
• maintain acceptable attendance;
• complete assigned work within expected time limits;
• require only customary breaks; and
• repeat that performance day after day, week after week.

The ability to perform a task once is very different from the ability to perform it consistently.

Social Security Measures the Ability to Work on a “Regular and Continuing Basis”

Perhaps no Social Security Ruling is more important than SSR 96-8p.

That ruling explains that a claimant’s Residual Functional Capacity (RFC) represents the maximum remaining ability to perform sustained work activities on a “regular and continuing basis.”

The ruling defines that phrase as:

Eight hours a day, five days a week, or an equivalent work schedule.

That language appears throughout Social Security disability decisions because it reflects one of the central questions in every disability case.

The issue is not whether someone can occasionally perform work.

The issue is whether the person can perform work reliably enough to satisfy the expectations of competitive employers.

Recommended Reading: If you have not already done so, our article “Why Work Classifications Matter in Alabama Workers’ Compensation and Social Security Disability Cases” explains how Residual Functional Capacity is evaluated. You may also enjoy “Why Concentration, Persistence, and Pace Matter in Social Security Disability and Alabama Workers’ Compensation Cases,” which discusses why sustaining attention throughout a workday is often just as important as physical ability.

Residual Functional Capacity Includes Both Physical and Mental Abilities

Social Security regulations require the agency to consider all medically determinable impairments when assessing Residual Functional Capacity.

Under 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.1545 and 416.945, the RFC assessment considers both physical and mental limitations.

Those limitations may include:

Physical abilities:

• lifting;
• carrying;
• standing;
• walking;
• sitting;
• pushing and pulling.

Mental abilities:

• understanding instructions;
• remembering information;
• maintaining concentration;
• interacting appropriately with supervisors and coworkers;
• adapting to workplace changes;
• making work-related decisions; and
• sustaining work activities over time.

The agency does not evaluate these limitations independently.

Instead, Social Security considers their combined effect on the claimant’s ability to maintain employment.

Employers Expect Reliability

Competitive employment depends upon consistency.

Employers generally expect employees to:

• report to work as scheduled;
• remain productive throughout the day;
• complete assigned work;
• maintain acceptable attendance;
• work at a reasonable pace; and
• require only ordinary supervision.

Medical conditions that interfere with these expectations often become vocationally significant.

For example:

A worker who misses three or four days of work each month because of severe migraines may struggle to maintain employment.

Likewise, an employee who requires several unscheduled breaks every day because of chronic pain may be unable to meet ordinary production requirements.

These limitations frequently become the focus of disability hearings.

Vocational Experts Frequently Testify About Off-Task Behavior and Absenteeism

One of the most important witnesses in many Social Security Disability hearings is the vocational expert.

Administrative Law Judges frequently ask vocational experts questions such as:

• What if the claimant is off task fifteen percent of the workday?
• What if the claimant requires unscheduled breaks?
• What if pain causes the claimant to lie down several times each day?
• What if the claimant misses work two or three days each month?

These questions reflect real-world employment expectations.

Although no regulation establishes a fixed percentage of acceptable absenteeism or off-task behavior, vocational experts routinely testify concerning what competitive employers generally tolerate.

Often, relatively small reductions in reliability can eliminate a significant number of available jobs.

Symptoms Rarely Occur in Isolation

One reason sustaining employment becomes so difficult is that disabling conditions rarely exist alone.

Consider an individual suffering from chronic lumbar pain.

That person may also experience:

• poor sleep;
• fatigue;
• depression;
• anxiety;
• medication side effects;
• reduced concentration; and
• slower thinking.

Each limitation may appear modest when viewed separately.

Together, however, they may significantly reduce the person’s ability to remain productive throughout an entire workday.

Social Security regulations require consideration of the combined effects of all medically determinable impairments rather than evaluating each condition in isolation.

Recommended Reading: Our articles “Can Pain Alone Keep Me from Working?”, “Can the Side Effects of Prescribed Medication Affect My Workers’ Compensation and Social Security Disability Claims?”, and “Why Mental Functional Limitations Matter in Social Security Disability and Alabama Workers’ Compensation Cases” discuss how multiple impairments often combine to produce disability.

How These Issues May Affect an Alabama Workers’ Compensation Claim

Although Alabama workers’ compensation law applies different legal standards, the practical realities of maintaining employment remain important.

Under § 25-5-57(a)(3), Ala. Code 1975, permanent disability involving body-as-a-whole injuries focuses upon vocational disability and loss of earning capacity.

When vocational experts evaluate an injured employee, they frequently consider practical questions such as:

• Can the employee maintain regular attendance?
• Can the employee work a full day without excessive breaks?
• Will pain interfere with productivity?
• Can the employee maintain a reasonable pace?
• Can the employee safely perform work throughout an entire shift?
• Will medication interfere with job performance?

Consider several examples.

A heavy-equipment operator whose prescribed medications cause excessive drowsiness may no longer be capable of working safely throughout a full shift.

A warehouse employee with chronic pain may require frequent rest periods that prevent meeting production quotas.

A nurse suffering PTSD following a traumatic workplace event may experience panic attacks that interrupt patient care.

Each employee may retain valuable work skills.

Yet the inability to sustain reliable employment may substantially reduce earning capacity.

Vocational experts frequently consider these practical limitations when determining whether reasonably suitable employment remains available after a serious work injury.

Recommended Reading: You may also enjoy “Understanding Loss of Earning Capacity” and “What Happens If I Can’t Return to My Job After a Work Injury?”

A Good Day Does Not Necessarily Mean You Can Work Full-Time

One of the most common misunderstandings in disability cases involves “good days.”

Many claimants experience periods when they function relatively well.

Unfortunately, competitive employment requires much more than occasional good performance.

A worker must generally perform consistently despite:

• pain;
• fatigue;
• stress;
• interruptions;
• changing job demands; and
• ordinary workplace pressures.

For many disabled individuals, the problem is not the inability to perform work occasionally.

The problem is the inability to repeat that performance every workday.

That distinction lies at the heart of many disability decisions.

The Law

Several important legal authorities govern the issues discussed in this article.

For Social Security Disability claims:

• 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.1545 and 416.945 require the Social Security Administration to assess a claimant’s Residual Functional Capacity by considering all medically determinable impairments and the resulting physical and mental limitations.
• SSR 96-8p defines Residual Functional Capacity as the maximum remaining ability to perform sustained work activities on a regular and continuing basis, generally meaning eight hours a day, five days a week, or an equivalent work schedule. The ruling emphasizes that the ability to perform work occasionally is not the same as the ability to sustain competitive employment.
• The combined effects of all medically determinable impairments must be considered throughout the disability evaluation process rather than evaluating each impairment in isolation.

For Alabama workers’ compensation claims:

• § 25-5-57, Ala. Code 1975, governs permanent disability benefits. For body-as-a-whole injuries, vocational disability depends upon the practical effect of the work-related injury on the employee’s earning capacity. Factors such as chronic pain, fatigue, medication side effects, reduced productivity, attendance problems, and the ability to maintain reasonably suitable employment may all become relevant in determining vocational disability.

The Bottom Line

Perhaps the single most important question in a disability case is not whether you can perform work occasionally.

It is whether you can perform work consistently.

Social Security recognizes this distinction through SSR 96-8p’s requirement that a claimant be capable of performing sustained work activities on a regular and continuing basis.

Likewise, Alabama workers’ compensation focuses upon whether an injured employee can realistically maintain reasonably suitable employment and continue earning a living after a serious work injury.

The ability to work for an hour, a morning, or even a good day is not necessarily the same as the ability to sustain competitive employment week after week.

Understanding that difference often explains why disability cases are decided the way they are.

Coming Next…

In our next article, we’ll bring together everything we’ve discussed in this series:

Why Functional Limitations Matter More Than Medical Diagnoses in Social Security Disability and Alabama Workers’ Compensation Cases

We’ll explain why two individuals with the same diagnosis may receive very different legal outcomes, how physicians, vocational experts, Administrative Law Judges, and courts evaluate the combined effects of physical and mental limitations, and why disability cases are ultimately decided not by the name of a medical condition, but by its real-world impact on a person’s ability to earn a living.