How to Attack Vocational Witness Testimony to Appeal an Unfavorable Hearing Decision

Social Security Disability Law Podcast

This is part two of a three part interview I conducted with attorney Bryan Konoski. Bryan's practice is focused primarily on appellate work - filing appeals from unfavorable hearing decisions with the Appeals Council and, if denied at the Appeals Council, with federal court.
In this part of our conversation, Bryan and I speak about vocational witness testimony. As you may know, Social Security judges almost always call a vocational expert to testify at disability hearings. The vocational witness will classify your past work based on exertional level (sedentary, light, medium, heavy or very heavy) and based on the required skill level (unskilled, semi-skilled or skilled) for that job.
The judge will then pose a series of "hypothetical questions" to the vocational expert to determine if a hypothetical person could return to your past work or to any other work given specific work limitations arising from your medical issues.
In our discussion, Bryan explains how he has been able to win appeals based on sloppy vocational expert testimony, or by arguing that the judge made an error of analysis by not including all of a claimant's limitations in the questions posed to the vocational expert.
Incredibly, Social Security still relies on a directory of jobs that was last updated 40 years ago! So there is often a disconnect between the requirements of a job in 2024 and what that job required in 1984.
Hearing attorneys like me often bring on attorneys like Bryan as co-counsel to review unfavorable decisions and to draft appellate briefs. If you are a disability attorney who would like to tap into Bryan's years of experience, you should reach out to him.
If you or your attorney wants to get in touch with Bryan, visit his website at TheFederalAppealsFirm.com.
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