When filing a claim for disability benefits, several factors may affect your chances at receiving them, as well as the final sum that you are granted. These factors include your age, the number of years you’ve been working in the U.S., and the severity of your medical condition or disability; however, what few people know is that occupation can affect your likelihood of receiving disability benefits as well. Depending on what you do for a living, your chances at successfully gaining disability benefits may improve or fall. This article will walk you through the ins and outs of how your occupation will affect your Social Security Disability in Atlantic City.
When determining whether or not to grant you Social Security Disability benefits, the SSA considers whether or not you are capable of performing the duties of your past job; this means that it has to review the requirements and qualifications of your chosen occupation. To do this, the SSA relies on the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT), a Department of Labor publication, which lists the titles and descriptions of various jobs in multiple industries in the U.S. Using the DOT, as well as the testimony of vocational experts (VEs), the SSA will determine your residual functional capacity (RFC) – or, how much of your job you are still capable of doing with your disability.
The lower your RFC, the more likely you are to gain disability benefits, because a low RFC means that with your current disability, you are unable to perform your job fully or to the capacity that is required to maintain an income. If your chosen occupation relies on heavy physical labor, for example, and your disability prevents you from carrying this out, you are more likely to receive disability benefits; however, if your job is mainly mental and you are physically incapacitated in some way, but still able to perform the mental tasks required of you, your chances may be lowered.
In judging whether what you do for a living will raise or lower your chances of receiving disability benefits, it is crucial to talk to your Social Security Disability attorney in Atlantic City, who will talk you through figuring out exactly what the requirements and limitations of your occupation are, and what effect this has on your likelihood of receiving benefits.
