"Special" Medical-Vocational Profiles

Social Security has posted an addition to its Program Operations Manual Series (POMS) that lists three "special" medical-vocational profiles in which a claimant should be found disabled. These profiles are in addition to what are generally referred to as the "grid regulations", which list several dozen such profiles. Here are the three profiles listed in this POMS issuance:

I. A finding of “disabled” will be made for persons who:

• are not working at SGA level, and

• have a history of 35 years or more of arduous unskilled work, and

• can no longer perform this past arduous work because of a severe impairment(s), and

• have no more than a marginal education.

NOTE: This provision would not necessarily be defeated by very short periods of semi-skilled or skilled work if no transferable skills exist or by longer periods of semi-skilled or skilled work if it is clear that the skill acquired is not readily transferable to lighter work and makes no meaningful contribution to an individual’s ability to do any work within his or her present functional capacity.

II. A finding of “disabled” will be made for persons who:

• have a severe impairment(s), and

• have no past relevant work (PRW), and

• are age 55 or older, and

• have no more than a limited education.

III. A finding of “disabled” will be made for persons who:

• are not working at SGA level, and

• have a lifetime commitment (30 years or more) to a field of work that is unskilled, or is skilled or semi-skilled but with no transferable skills, and

• can no longer perform this past work because of a severe impairment(s), and

• are closely approaching retirement age (age 60 or older), and

• have no more than a limited education.

NOTE: To satisfy the requirement for this profile, the 30 years of lifetime commitment work does not have to be at one job or for one employer but rather work in one field of a very similar nature. If the person has a history of working 30 years or more in one field of work, the use of this profile will not be precluded by the fact that the person also has work experience in other fields, so long as that work experience in other fields is not past relevant work which the person is still able to perform.