Applying For Disability When You’re Over 50

If you are able to perform your past relevant work, your claim could be denied. If you are unable to perform your past relevant work the question becomes whether you could perform a different type of work. Age, education, and work experience are under consideration to determine your “occupational base.” This term covers an estimated number of occupations you could potentially perform given your physical or mental limitations.

Age is a consideration because it can affect your ability to adapt to a new work situation. While education and training can provide certain abilities, the period between your formal education and the start of your disability are relevant. If your acquired skills are considered non-transferable, you may be considered capable of adjusting only to unskilled work. Transferability applies only to jobs that require the same or fewer skills. This is because claimants are not expected or required to do more complex work than they did in their prior jobs.

If you are deemed capable of performing another type of work, your application for disability could be denied. If this is the case, the SSA will likely cite three examples of jobs you could potentially perform. Those with limited education are probably more likely to collect SSD benefits. People with a limited education and skills usually perform more physical work and could be less able to switch to an office job. The Social Security Administration uses four categories of “functioning capacity,” which are:

• Sedentary—no requirements to lift more than 10 pounds;
• Light—You must lift 10 pounds frequently, while occasionally lifting up to 20 pounds;
• Medium—You frequently lift 25, while occasionally lifting up to 50 pounds, and
• Heavy—You frequently lift more than 50 pounds.

When combined with age, the above functioning capacities can make a difference. As an example, even if you can perform sedentary labor, if you are between 50 and 54 you may be eligible for SSD benefits. Even if you can perform light work if you are between 55 and 59 you could be approved for SSD benefits. If you are 60-64, you could be able to collect SSD benefits even if you are able to perform medium work.

How Does the Medical-Vocational Grid Work in Favor of Those Over 50?

A set of tables known as the Medical-vocational guidelines grid helps to classify claimant eligibility. This grid considers Residual Functional Capacity, age, education, and past relevant work. As a quick example a disability claimant that is younger than 50, has education, training, and/or transferable job skills along with a nonrestrictive RFC would be unlikely to qualify for disability benefits. Grid rules can help an older claimant be approved for disability benefits via a medical-vocational allowance. Grid rules are usually only considered once it is determined you are unable to perform work done in your recent past.

Your age group will fall into one of the following categories:

• 18-49 (younger individuals);
• 50-54 (closely approaching “advanced” age);
• 55 and older (advanced age), and
• 60 and older (close to retirement age).

There is a specific grid for those 60 and older. On this grid you will find your RFC description, then the row that describes your education and prior work experience. The final column shows the decision SSA will likely make based on those factors. If you are over the age of 60 you may ask why you would apply for disability when you are close to receiving regular SS. It is worth the effort to apply for disability because the benefits are usually more than for straight SS.

Your education will come into play on either grid. If you graduated high school yet recently completed a post-secondary training program your education level is high school graduate or more with training for skilled work. As an example, a 57-year-old woman with a high school diploma might be denied disability if she recently received certification as a nail technician prior to her back injury.

The SSA classifies jobs as unskilled, semi-skilled, or skilled. Those who have a history of only unskilled labor are more likely to be approved for SSD benefits. A factory worker whose job is only to sort parts might be considered to be in an unskilled job. A waitress might be classified as having a semi-skilled job. A paralegal would fall into the skilled job category. Skill levels factor in how long it takes to fully learn the job, and whether any specialized education is required for the job.

If you previously worked in a skilled or semi-skilled position, the SSA will determine whether you have any transferable skills. The more transferable skills you have, the less likely you are to be awarded SSD benefits. There are instances, however, while your job may have required skills so specific that they do not transfer to another job. As an example, you may be a highly skilled seamstress, but those skills fail to transfer to other types of work.

Additional Examples of How the Grid Might Work for Disability Benefits Over 50

Below are just a few examples of how the grid might or might not benefit your disability application:

• If you are between the ages of 50 and 54, you have fewer educational advancements, and you are considered skilled or semi-skilled with non-transferable skills, the SSA would consider you disabled.
• If you have the same education and skills as above, but you have transferable skills, the SSA would not consider you disabled.
• If you are an unskilled high school graduate between the ages of 50 and 54 with no transferable skills, the SSA would consider you disabled.

More specifically:

• The claimant is 52 years old. She files for disability based on heart disease. The woman has a high-school education and has worked as a factory sorter (unskilled work). The grid considers approaching advanced age, no recent job training, and only unskilled work experience, finding the woman disabled.
• A male 50-year-old applicant has a back injury, a high-school education, and worked as a truck driver (considered semi-skilled work by SSA). The applicant had transferable skills, however—skills he could use in another position. Taking into account approaching advanced age, and using grid rules for light work, the SSA denied the disability application. It was determined this claimant had job skills that would transfer to less physical work.

If your RFC is for heavy or very heavy work, the grid rules are not used by the SSA under the theory that if you can do very heavy work you can also do heavy work, medium work, light work, or sedentary work.

What Medical Conditions are Commonly Approved for SSD After 50?

Getting disability after 50 requires you to prove that you meet the definition of being disabled, and a major part of proving eligibility is having a qualifying disability. The SSA’s Blue Bookhas an extensive list of disabilities, but the most common conditions that are approved include:

In addition to the above, other conditions that are qualifying disabilities are:

If your disability is not on the list above, that doesn’t mean that your condition is not a qualifying disability. Your disability must impact your ability to work. For example, many applicants are approved based on severe arthritis. Someone who has arthritis but still maintains their function and can control their condition with medication is still likely to be able to work and may not be approved for benefits.