Sedentary Work Restrictions Defined

Sedentary Work Restrictions
May 5, 2023

By Steve Fields
Principal Attorney

Work mostly performed while seated is defined as “Sedentary Work” by the Social Security Administration (“SSA”). This category of work entails lifting at most 10 pounds at any given time. It may occasionally require lifting or transporting objects like docket files, small tools, and ledgers. Even though a sedentary profession requires a lot of sitting, many jobs still require some standing and walking to fulfill their obligations.

You must demonstrate your whole disability during the Social Security Disability claims process. You must demonstrate that you are unable to engage in any kind of employment, even sedentary labor, which is the lightest work available, to qualify for disability benefits under the Social Security Administration’s rules.

Keep reading below for more information.

What Are Sedentary Work Restrictions?

You have likely encountered the term “sedentary” before. And typically, in a bad way.

For instance, medical professionals caution that leading a sedentary lifestyle—one in which people spend too much time sitting or sleeping and too little time moving around or engaging in physical activity—increases your risk of disease.

But when judges, doctors, and lawyers discuss sedentary labor in disability and workers’ compensation claims, they use the phrase to describe a job category instead.

What is Sedentary Work Restrictions

Social Security Sedentary Definition

Sedentary work is defined by the SSA as jobs that involve:

●       Lifting a maximum of ten pounds at a time

●       Sometimes (up to one-third of the time), carrying or holding compact objects like ledgers, docket files, and hand tools

●       Sitting a great deal of time (about six hours total in an eight-hour workday)

●       Sometimes standing and walking while performing job obligations (but not more than two hours total in an eight-hour workday)

●       No noticeable bending

●       No continual lifting or carrying of more than one pound

●       No frequent moving or carrying of more than one pound

What Does It Mean If Social Security Determines I Am Capable of Doing Sedentary Jobs?

Social Security will examine whether any of your prior work experience held throughout the previous fifteen years that involved substantial gainful activity (SGA) was done at a sedentary level.

After examining whether you can do your past work with a sedentary capacity, SSA will determine whether you can do other jobs in the national labor market with a sedentary capacity.

*Note: it is possible to be precluded from sedentary work through non-exertional limitations. Common non-exertional conditions would be anxiety, depression, cognitive decline, or chronic fatigue.

If you are under the age of 50, the Social Security Administration will not find you disabled if you can do any sedentary work; regardless of whether you have done this type of work before.

If you are above age 50, the Medical-Vocational Guidelines (also known as the “Grid Rules“) are used by Social Security to assess whether you are disabled due to an exertional limitation. The Grid Rules exist to capture the idea that it is more difficult to change careers the older you get.

Three charts in The Grid Rules determine if you are disabled based on various factors, including age, education, work experience, literacy, and residual physical capacity despite the medical impairments.

Nonetheless, the match between your profile and a specific regulation must be accurate. The Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) will question a vocational expert to determine if you are unable to perform the full spectrum of sedentary employment on any basis, including non-exertional limits.

How Can I Show That I Am Incapable of Sedentary Work?

In many cases, to obtain or maintain disability, you must demonstrate that you cannot complete the full spectrum of sedentary employment. It seems impossible to demonstrate that you cannot perform a sit-down job. But it isn’t.

We advise collecting and providing evidence in one or more of the sections below covering exertional and non-exertional work demands to demonstrate that you cannot perform the entire range of sedentary employment.

A person may be limited to less-than-sedentary labor due to a variety of physical and non-physical factors. You can increase your chances of succeeding in your claim and proving you can’t do sedentary work by reviewing the following criteria:

1. The inability to lift ten pounds or less.

2. An inability to concentrate in noisy settings.

3. Being unable to stand or walk for more than two hours each day in total.

4. A diminished capacity for using your hands and fingers.

5. The use of hand-held mobility aids that are medically necessary.

6. A requirement to maintain one leg elevated.

7, Unsteadiness, even on flat ground, and/or a  notable difficulty in stooping or bending, or squatting.

8. An arm that cannot be used due to an elbow amputation.

9. Specific visual impairments.

10. The inability to spend six of the eight hours of a workday sitting still.

11. The requirement to alternate between sitting and standing as needed during the day while needing to stop work tasks.

12. The requirement for regular sick days or additional breaks.

13. The requirement to rest or lie down as often as necessary throughout the day.

The SSA may conclude that you can perform sedentary work even if you have any of these restrictions. Yet, the possibility of a “less than sedentary” rating rises as more restrictions are included in your RFC assessment. This is called “eroding the occupational base” for sedentary labor.

Even if you only experience one of these restrictions, two, in particular, are thought to seriously reduce the employment base. This includes both the requirement to sit and stand only when necessary and the full inability to stoop.

Conclusion

You should speak with your doctor or a Social Security Disability attorney if you are unclear whether you’ll be capable of carrying out any type of sedentary work. These experts can assist you in starting your claim and figuring out whether you are disabled and qualified for benefits.

Author

Steve Fields is the founder and managing attorney at Fields Law Firm. Since founding the firm in 2001 he quickly established a reputation with his Personal Injury clients for being a lawyer who truly cares.

Together with his experienced team of legal professionals, Steve ensures clients win their case, maximize their recovery while also looking out for their long-term interests, all backed with the firm’s Win-Win Guarantee®.

Fields Law currently handles cases for Personal Injury, Workers’ Compensation, Long Term Disability, Social Security Disability and Consumer Rights and has grown to be one of the largest injury and disability law firms in the nation.

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