The Worn Out Worker Rule
The worn out worker rule, established under the Code of Federal Regulations, allows many Social Security disability claimants who would otherwise be ineligible for disability benefits to be awarded benefits. A claim can be approved under the worn out worker rule if all three of the following requirements are met:
Marginal Education
For a claimant to be awarded disability benefits under the worn out worker rule, he or she must have a marginal education, meaning that he or she has a low level of skill in traditional academic areas, including mathematics, language, comprehension, and logical reasoning. In general, an education of no higher than the sixth grade is typically considered to be marginal in this context.
35 Years of Unskilled and Arduous Labor
To be found disabled under this rule, a claimant must have worked only physically demanding and unskilled labor positions for a minimum of thirty five years. Jobs that often meet this requirement include but are not limited to farm work, construction labor, mine work, moving work, and other positions requiring exclusively unskilled, physically demanding work.
Unable to Perform Previous Job
In order to qualify for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) under the worn out worker rule, a claimant must no longer be able to perform on a full-time basis the work that he or she had previously performed.
Why This Rule Matters
Many disabled workers who meet the requirements of the worn out worker rule will already qualify for disability benefits either through one of Social Security’s medical listings or a residual function capacity (RFC) assessment. However, some workers whose impairments may not disallow them from performing sedentary or light work could still be found eligible for disability under the worn out worker rule. For instance, an individual with marginal education who worked for forty years as an unskilled laborer on construction sites and is no longer able to perform that kind of work will be found eligible for Social Security disability even if he or she might be able to perform light work, such as an administrative assistant in an office.
Contact Us
If you or a family member is no longer able to work and may qualify for disability benefits under the worn out worker rule, please contact our office for a free disability claim evaluation.
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