Winning Under the Grid Rules - The Effect of Age and Limited Education
In addition to winning your disability case by meeting a listing or by showing that your functional capacity for work has been seriously reduced, there is a third way to win your disability case. Known as the “grid rules,” this approach applies when you are age 50 or over and have a physical type of impairment.
The grid rules do not apply to claimants with non-physical impairments like depression or pain.
The grid rules take into account your age, education, work skills and physical capacity for work. They are called the “grid rules,” because you can line up each of these factors in the form of a grid to determine whether you meet one of the rules and thereby qualify automatically.
SSA Recognizes that Older, Less Educated Workers Will Have a Hard Time Finding an Entry Level Job
The grid rules recognize that once a less educated, less skilled worker reaches age 50, fewer employers will offer those simple, unskilled jobs even if that worker could perform the job.
Here is an example: Grid rule 201.10 provides that a worker between the ages of 50 and 54, with less than a high school education and no transferrable skills will be considered disabled even if he can perform sedentary (sit down) work. Again, the logic behind such a finding is that a worker with these limitations would most likely not be able to find a job.
Here is another example: Grid rule 202.06 provides that a worker between the ages of 55 and 59, with a high school education and no transferrable skills would be found disabled even if he could perform light work.
As you can see, the older a worker becomes, the more likely that Social Security will accept that simple, entry level work really does not exist in significant numbers in our economy.
Apply the Grid Rules
Most disability claimants are not aware of the grid rules and there may be some Social Security claims reps that are not too familiar with them as well. If you are over age 50 and have a limited education, make sure to ask your lawyer if the grid rules apply. If you want to review the grid rules, they can be found by clicking on the link.
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