Why Work Classifications Matter in Alabama Workers Compensation and Social Security Disability Cases

Why Work Classifications Matter in Alabama Workers Compensation and Social Security Disability Cases

Understanding how Sedentary, Light, Medium, Heavy, and Very Heavy Work can determine the outcome of your claim.

Over the last several articles, we’ve discussed what Social Security and vocational experts mean when they classify work as sedentary, light, medium, heavy, or very heavy. At first glance, these classifications appear to be little more than descriptions of how much weight a person can lift.

They are much more than that.

In both Alabama workers’ compensation and Social Security Disability cases, work classifications often become the framework through which an injured worker’s future is evaluated. A seemingly small change in your physical abilities—from medium work to light work, or from light work to sedentary work—can dramatically affect your legal rights, your earning capacity, and, in some cases, whether you qualify for disability benefits.

Understanding these classifications helps explain why physicians, Functional Capacity Evaluations (FCEs), vocational experts, and Administrative Law Judges spend so much time discussing work restrictions.

The Entire Series Has Been Building to This Point

Throughout this series we’ve examined each exertional level individually:

• Sedentary Work
• Light Work
• Medium Work
• Heavy Work
• Very Heavy Work

Each category requires the ability to perform the full range of activities within that classification—not merely lift a certain amount of weight.

For example:

A person may be physically capable of lifting 50 pounds but still be incapable of performing medium work if they cannot:

• frequently stoop,
• crouch,
• stand for prolonged periods,
• repeatedly lift throughout the day, or
• use their hands effectively.

Likewise, someone who can occasionally lift 20 pounds may still be unable to perform light work if chronic knee pain prevents six hours of standing and walking during an eight-hour workday.

Recommended Reading: What Does “Sedentary Work” Really Mean?

Recommended Reading: Understanding Light Work  

Recommended Reading: What Is Medium Work?

Recommended Reading: Can You Really Perform Heavy Work?

Workers’ Compensation Looks at How Your Injury Affects Your Ability to Earn a Living

One of the biggest misconceptions about Alabama workers’ compensation is that compensation depends solely upon an impairment rating.

For scheduled injuries, that is often largely true; however, when an injury is non-scheduled, or when a scheduled injury extends beyond the schedule because it affects the body as a whole, Alabama courts may consider vocational evidence, including:

• permanent work restrictions;
• age;
• education;
• transferable job skills;
• chronic pain;
• medication side effects;
• the availability of reasonably suitable employment; and
• whether the worker can obtain employment at similar remuneration.

In other words, once vocational disability becomes an issue, what type of work you can still perform becomes critically important.

Recommended Reading: Getting a Scheduled Injury Outside the Schedule

Recommended Reading: What Happens If I Can’t Return to My Job After a Work Injury?

Social Security Uses Work Classifications at Every Step of the Disability Process

Social Security uses exertional classifications throughout the disability determination process.

After determining a claimant’s Residual Functional Capacity (RFC), the agency asks:

• Can the claimant return to past relevant work?
• If not, can the claimant perform other work?
• Do jobs exist in significant numbers?
• Does the Medical-Vocational Guideline (“Grid Rule”) direct a finding of disability?

Every one of those questions depends upon understanding the claimant’s work classification.

That is why physicians, vocational experts, and Administrative Law Judges spend so much time discussing whether a claimant is capable of sedentary, light, medium, heavy, or very heavy work.

Recommended Reading: What Does “Jobs Existing in Significant Numbers” Really Mean in a Social Security Disability Case?

Recommended Reading:  Transferable Skills: Why Social Security Thinks You Can Do Another Job

Sometimes a Small Restriction Changes Everything

Many people assume that only catastrophic injuries affect disability claims, but that simply is not true.

A relatively modest restriction can reduce a person’s vocational capacity.

Examples include:

• a lifting restriction reducing medium work to light work;
• inability to stoop eliminating many occupations;
• permanent use of a cane;
• inability to frequently use both hands;
• loss of grip strength;
• inability to reach overhead;
• chronic medication side effects;
• inability to stand six hours during the workday.

Each limitation narrows the number of jobs a person can perform.

As multiple restrictions accumulate, the occupational base becomes progressively smaller.  That is why physicians carefully evaluate functional limitations, not merely diagnoses.

Recommended Reading: Why Grip Strength Matters

Recommended Reading:  Why Postural Restrictions Are Important  

Recommended Reading: Can the Side Effects of My Prescribed Medication Affect My Workers’ Compensation Claim and Social Security Disability Claims?  

Recommended Reading: Can Pain Alone Keep Me from Working?

Sometimes Age Matters More Than the Injury

Many people believe disability decisions are based solely on medical evidence.  Medical evidence is essential—but vocational factors often become equally important.

Social Security recognizes that it becomes increasingly difficult for older workers to adapt to new occupations after spending decades performing physically demanding labor.

For that reason, the Medical-Vocational Guidelines (“Grid Rules”) consider:

• Age;
• Education;
• Previous work experience;
• Transferable skills; and
• Residual Functional Capacity.

For example, 20 C.F.R. Part 404, Subpart P, Appendix 2, Table No. 3, Rule 203.01 provides that a claimant may be found disabled when the individual:

• is limited to medium work;
• is 60 through 66 years old (closely approaching retirement age);
• has a limited education or less; and
• spent a lifetime performing unskilled heavy or very heavy work.

The rule reflects a practical reality.

A worker who has spent forty years performing heavy construction work, mining, logging, manufacturing, or other physically demanding labor is not realistically expected to begin a new occupation requiring different vocational skills simply because he or she remains capable of medium work.

This illustrates why disability cases involve far more than medical diagnoses—they involve real-world vocational considerations.

Recommended Reading: Understanding the Grid Rules

Workers’ Compensation and Social Security Ask Different Questions

Although the two systems frequently involve the same injury, they evaluate disability differently.

Alabama Workers’ Compensation generally asks:

• Has the worker suffered a loss of earning capacity?
• Can the worker obtain reasonably suitable employment?
• Will that employment provide similar remuneration?
• Has a scheduled injury affected the body as a whole?

Social Security asks:

• Can the claimant perform past relevant work?
• If not, can the claimant perform other work?
• Do those jobs exist in significant numbers in the national economy?
• Do the Grid Rules direct a finding of disability?

Different questions.

Different statutes.

Often the same medical evidence.

Understanding these differences helps explain why someone may qualify for one type of benefit but not the other.

Recommended Reading: How can Social Security say I’m Not Disabled When Workers’ Comp found me Permanently Disabled?

Recommended Reading: How can I be Denied Permanent Total Disability Benefits in my Alabama Workers’ Compensation Claim After Social Security Found me to be Disabled?

Medical Diagnoses Matter—Functional Limitations Matter More

Throughout this series, one theme has appeared repeatedly; a diagnosis rarely decides a case.

Rather, physicians, vocational experts, judges, and insurance companies focus on function.

Can you:

• lift?
• carry?
• stand?
• walk?
• sit?
• climb?
• stoop?
• balance?
• reach?
• grasp?
• finger?
• maintain pace?
• work eight hours a day, five days a week?

Those functional abilities ultimately determine where you fall within the work classifications—and those classifications often determine the outcome of your workers’ compensation or disability claim.

The Bottom Line

Understanding work classifications is about far more than knowing how much a person can lift.

Sedentary, light, medium, heavy, and very heavy work form the vocational framework used by physicians, Functional Capacity Evaluations, vocational experts, insurance companies, Administrative Law Judges, and courts to evaluate an injured worker’s future.

Whether your claim involves Alabama workers’ compensation, Social Security Disability, or both, understanding these classifications can help explain why seemingly small medical restrictions sometimes lead to life-changing legal consequences.

At Powell & Denny, we have represented injured and disabled workers throughout Alabama for more than 30 years. We understand that serious claims are rarely decided by lifting restrictions alone.  They are decided by how the injury affects the person’s ability to function, work, and earn a living.

If you have questions about an Alabama Workers’ Compensation claim, or a claim for Social Security Disability benefits, don’t hesitate to contact the experienced attorneys at Powell and Denny today a free consultation; remember. Virtual appointments are available through Zoom so you can meet with one of the attorneys of Powell and Denny from wherever you live, and remember-there is no fee unless you win.

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