Why Your Relevant Work History Is Important To Your Social Security Disability Claim

When the Social Security Administration reviews your claim for disability benefits in Texas, an important determination will be made relating to your ability to perform your past work. This requires you to provide information relating to your past work to the Administration. The Administration will only assess work that is deemed “relevant.” Work performed within the past 15 years, work involving significant and productive physical or mental activities for pay, and work performed long enough for you to learn how to do it typically qualifies as “relevant.”

Once you have provided the Social Security Administration with the relevant information relating to your past work, your capacity to work will be compared with how you actually used to perform your job and how it is generally performed in the national economy. After these comparisons are made, the Administration will make one of the following determinations:

The Social Security Administration may decide that you are still able to do your past work as you actually did it. In these cases, the determination is made that you are not disabled and therefore not eligible for benefits.
The Social Security Administration may decide that you can still do your past work in a manner consistent with how it is generally performed in the national economy. In these cases, it will also be determined that you are not disabled.
The Social Security Administration may decide that you are not physically and mentally capable of performing any of your past relevant work, either in the manner that you did it or how it is done in the general national economy. In these cases, the Administration will then make a decision as to whether or not you are capable of doing any other type of work.

To learn more about the process of seeking Social Security disability benefits in Texas, we encourage you to view our free guide, Social Security Disability: What You Need to Know.

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