article Identifying Possible Special Medical Vocational Profiles

Special Medical Vocational Profiles

Arduous Work Profile

The requirements for this profile include:

• 35 years or more of arduous unskilled work, and
• Can no longer perform this work because of severe impairment(s), and
• Have no more than marginal education (6th grade or less education)

Arduous work is physical work that requires a high level of strength and endurance. No specific physical action or exertional level denotes arduous work. Such work may be arduous if it demands a great deal of stamina or activity such as repetitive bending or lifting at a very fast pace. 

No Work Experience

The requirements for this profile include:

• Have a severe impairment(s), and
• Have no past relevant work, and
• Age 55 or older, and
• Have no more than a limited education (11th grade or less)

Lifetime Commitment

The requirements for this profile include:

• 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 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 (11th grade or less)

Transferable skills are skills obtained from performing past relevant skilled or semi-skilled work that a claimant can use to adjust to the requirements of other skilled or semi-skilled work that falls within the claimant’s Residual Functional Capacity (RFC). For this profile it is also important to know that the 30 years of lifetime commitment does not have to be at one job or for one employer but rather work in a field of a very similar nature.

SOAR Practice

While it is rare to meet one of these special profiles, the better educated you are the better you can advocate for your claimants. The purpose of this article is to make you familiar with these special medical vocational profiles so you can better provide adequate information for claimants who may satisfy the requirements of these profiles. As illustrated above, there are certain scenarios when providing more than a 15 year work history may be appropriate. It is also necessary to remember, that an adjudicator can only consider whether a profile applies only after finding that the claimant cannot do any past relevant work.

Shared by Julie Kujath, Disability Adjudicator 3, BDA SOAR Liaison, Las Vegas, Nevada