You Are Closely Approaching Advanced Age or Have Reached Advanced Age
The vocational expert’s primary roles in the hearing are providing insight about the Claimant’s past relevant work as performed and as listed in the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT), providing information about the ability of hypothetical workers to perform jobs, as well as how many of those jobs exist in the national economy, and also providing information regarding transferable skills that Claimant might have acquired through their Past Relevant Work (PRW). The Social Security disability evaluation changes when a claimant reaches age 50 and again when the claimant reaches age 55. If you are over the age of 50, limited to unskilled sedentary work, and the vocational expert testifies that you have no transferable skills and are unable to return to any of your past relevant work, then you win. There are similar situations where you win at age 55 or older. Your attorney should not ask the vocational expert any questions that try to exclude work at the sedentary level (i...