As you mount your Social Security disability (SSD) benefits case, your Macomb County Social Security attorneys will explain that the Social Security Administration (SSA) will likely depend on the testimony of various experts to make its decision regarding your benefits award.
One such expert, known as the vocational expert, is a person with extensive knowledge about the physical demands of various careers and can put that knowledge to good use to inform the SSA or its administrative law judge about how a person’s particular job duties are impacted by his or her disabling condition. Cases involving a specific vocational issue are more likely to be assigned a vocational expert than not and your Macomb County Social Security attorney may be able to have another vocational expert testify on your behalf as well.
The SSA has a burden of proof to meet when deciding whether to award benefits and cannot do so to any person who does not meet the criteria. When certain complex vocational questions arise, the expert is expected to review hearing exhibits, information about your job and disability, and make a decision whether or not you can do your current job or past work. The expert must adhere to the SSA’s Medical-Vocational Guidelines when making a recommendation. In addition, the Social Security Act provides that “a claimant shall be determined to be under a disability only if his physical or mental impairment or impairments are of such severity that that he is not only unable to do his previous work but cannot, considering his age, education and work experience, engage in any other kinds of substantial gainful work which exists in the national economy….”
Vocational experts can be very helpful, but this depends on their experience level in dealing with certain types of cases. Certain vocations are not as well-known as others and the expert may not have as much knowledge about the job duties for a particular job. For this reason, your Macomb County Social Security attorney will likely be displeased upon receiving notice that a vocational expert is going to testify at your hearing as their testimony is often not helpful to the claimant’s case.
If you would like more information about how a vocational expert could impact your claim, contact Macomb County Social Security attorneys, J.B. Bieske and Jennifer Alfonsi, Attorneys at Law, today at 800-331-3530.