Social Security relies heavily upon the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) in making disability determinations. The DOT lists something like 12,000 different occupations in the national economy. Social Security uses the DOT in classifying the work formerly performed by a claimant and, more importantly, in coming up with alternative job possibilities for a claimant who can no longer perform his or her past relevant work. Disability claims are approved and denied based upon the DOT.
Although no longer listed at the International Association of Rehabilitation Professionals’ web site, http://www.rehabpro.org, it was previously reported that:
"SSA [Social Security Administration] and DOL [Deparment of Labor] have been working, both independently and together, to prepare for the transition from DOT to an updated occupationally specific data. Both agencies are preparing a joint white paper that outlines recent and planned SSA and DOL efforts to support SSA’s development of the type of data required for disability programs and vocational rehabilitation services. This document will serve as a basis for executive-level agency discussions, leading to more formal collaborative arrangements, such as an interagency workgroup established under a Memorandum of Understanding. To address the changes anticipated by the eventual obsolescence of the DOT, SSA needs to work with DOL on strategies for SSA’s development of additional occupational data while simultaneously investigating options for updating its medical-vocational policies as well."
According to one participant in the Interorganizational O*NET Task Force [IOTF], IOTF has done nothing further for the past several years. Martin Gerry (Deputy Commissioner for Disability) apparently put a hold on the DOT update that the policy people wanted, and had an RFP [Request for Proposal, a prelude to signing a contract with a vendor] ready for. [emphasis added] There is now a new Commissioner, Michael Astrue. Not surprisingly, SSA apparently has no discretionary dollars because of war in Iraq, so the need for an occupational database might be a unaddressed until after the next presidential election.
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