I also was found unable to do my past job at the ALJ hearing and the vocational expert came up with three jobs and my lawyer said "would a person be able to do those jobs if they could only perform them for an hour a day and missed 3 or more days a month"? The vocational expert said "No, in a case like that there would be no jobs the person could perform". I was still denied. This was after I had liver and kidney failure and could barely get out of bed to bath and use the bathroom. Plus I have a whole list of other conditions. Every condition I have is on their disability list of qualifying conditions. How did I get denied? I don't understand. If someone has any insight into how they make a decision, I would love to hear it. To me it seems totally random on who is accepted and who is denied.
Brain

The ALJ usually phrases the Voc Counselor questions as a hypothetical. So if the ALJ decides the medical documentation fits the RFC, then he/she will likely find a FF decision if the Voc Counselor determines no other work could be performed.

But, why you were denied? The only way to hazard a guess would be to read the transcript and the decision, and to look at your file.

Hello, I PM.d you. Keep in touch and don't loose hope. ginnie

It's called bias alj

I still have my new claim that I filed in March. I just applied again. This time I have more evidence and more diagnosis. This denial I was talking about was a few months back. After going through the whole process for years. I agree it was bogus. I thought if they find you are unable to do any job then you would be approved but that is not how it went for me the last time. Hoping this new claim will be approved.
Brain

Hi Brain,

The problem is, based on what you have said here about your trial, "they" didn't find that you were unable to do any job. Your lawyer asked a question of the voc spec, and there would be no jobs that "that" person could do. If the judge had asked that question, you might think that you are the hypothetical "person" the judge had described. You lawyer may think that your application shows that you are someone that can only work for an hour each day for so many days per month, but the judge might not be seeing those facts about you from the application.

There are MANY reasons that that might be.

Your lawyer asked that question, not the judge ? Your lawyer could be assuming that your record spells out certain facts about your disabilities that the judge just isn't seeing. Why the judge isn't seeing that, we just can't say. Maybe the judge shouldn't be a judge. Maybe the record just isn't as clear as it should be. Maybe there is a conflict in some of the documentation.

The judge can also consider what they can see on the day of the hearing. For instance, if an applicant's (and I'm absolutely not saying this is you, just an example of what could go wrong) documentation says they can ONLY sit up for an hour, but the judge sees them sitting, in no apparent distress, for 2 hours in the waiting room, then walking into the courtroom and sitting for the 1/2 proceedings, they might think the doctor who said that person could only tolerate being out of bed for one hour was exaggerating the patient's condition. The patient didn't do anything wrong. The record looks specific enough, but there is a conflict between what the record says and what the judge can see for himself.

There are so many potential issues, like that or like lacking documentation, that no one here can tell you exactly why you were denied.

If they see you laid out on a bench or your feet propped up, now they will say you are putting on, you can't win, everyone has good days and bad ones.

Most of us do have good days and bad.

That doesn't excuse deliberately misrepresenting severity of our impairments in an effort to fraudulently try to obtain benefits.

I agree Rayandnay. What are you supposed to do? I tried to endure the hearing as best I could without showing the pain I was in because I did not want them to think I was putting on some kind of a show. I am sure they noticed i was in severe pain. I am not in the category of needing to fake anything in order to get benefits. I have brain damage, PCS, REM sleep behavior disorder, nocturnal seizures, liver and kidney failure, my side fills with fluid all the time, chronic pain, back injury, neck injury, head injury, pain that goes down my left leg constantly,major depression, major panic attacks, extreme anxiety, hypoglycemia, tried to kill myself from being so disabled and don't want to have to ask for help from anyone. I need the benefits. I qualify for the benefits. The judge did not read the hospital report. That is the only explanation for this negligence in my case. I have not left my house for more than a few hours a couple times a month over the past 4 years. Most of these to go to the doctor. How much more disabled can you get? I see lots of people who are on disability that are able to go to movies, shop etc. I can barely dress myself. I can only attend family dinners/parties for an hour if its a good day. Otherwise I am here in my room alone laying down. Have you ever had liver failure? That alone should be plenty evidence of disability. I can barely eat and digest any food. I don't appreciate the above comments by the person with the dog.
Brain