This is a long, complicated form that many applicants rush through, half-way complete or give little effort. A poorly prepared work history report can get your claim for disability benefits denied. Here's why.
Decision makers must decide whether you can perform any of your past relevant work. First, they must know what your past jobs were. More importantly, they must know the exact duties of each job. A decision maker will classify each one of your past jobs in terms of its skill level and exertion level.
- Skill levels: skilled, semi-skilled or unskilled
- Exertion levels: sedentary, light, medium, heavy or very heavy
You should be extremely careful to describe each job on the Work History Report in terms of how much standing, walking, lifting, reaching, kneeling, stooping, etc. you performed. Try to give an accurate estimate based on your recollection of a typical day's work.
Finally, keep in mind that the question about "What is the heaviest weight you lifted?" means the heaviest weight you ever lifted on that job, even if you only lifted it very occasionally, such as once every month. For example, if you worked as a cashier which was mostly light work - but once a week you had to help unload a truck which involved lifting cases of inventory that weighed 40 pounds--you really had a medium exertion job, not light. That could be the turning point in your claim.
Describe the duties of each of your past jobs in great detail, especially the standing, walking and lifting. I cannot over emphasize how important this could be.
I recently had a claimant whose past work was skilled and sedentary (mostly sitting). However, once a day she was required to walk around her employer's property and carry a laptop. Since she now has back problems that prevent the required walking, she is no longer able to perform the past work. While she must still demonstrate that she cannot perform "any other work," getting past the former skilled job was a major hurdle.
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