Lumbar spine degenerative discogenic disease, lumbar radiculopathy, a left medial meniscus tear, median nerve entrapment in both wrists and major depressive disorders.

On appeal the claimant argued that the Administrative Law Judge’s hypothetical presented to the vocational expert did not accurately reflect all of claimant’s functional limitations.  Specifically, the claimant suggested that the ALJ wrongly concluded that, “unskilled work inherently involves low levels of stress for employees.”

The court stated:  “While a correlation between unskilled and low-stress positions may indeed exist, it does not follow that unskilled work is necessarily low-stress. When a claimant’s mental impairments are at issue, there is a need to examine the individual’s specific vocational abilities in light of the impairment.” 

Citing case law, the court quoted Social Security Ruling 85-15:

“The basic mental demands of competitive, remunerative, unskilled work include the abilities (on a sustained basis) to understand, carry out, and remember simple instructions; to respond appropriately to supervision, coworkers, and usual work situations; and to deal with changes in a routine work setting.”

The court found that: “The ALJ erred in making an independent assumption that unskilled work is inherently low-stress, rather than incorporating the factors necessary to properly evaluate the impact of a mental impairment on claimant’s vocational abilities into his hypothetical to the [vocational expert]. . . . at a minimum the hypothetical ought to include factors associated with low-stress environments, such as the ability or inability to interact with supervisors and co-workers.”

The court remanded the case.

COMMENT

When a claimant has mental impairments, his abilities (on a sustained basis) to understand, carry out, and remember simple instructions; to respond appropriately to supervision, coworkers, and usual work situations; and to deal with changes in a routine work setting must be evaluated.

 

Méndez v. Commissioner of Social Security, Civil No. 12-1725 (MEL) (D. P.R., Jan. 10, 2014)

Available at:

http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=6700883412783644266&q=social+security&hl=en&as_sdt=40000003&as_ylo=2014