Suffering a sudden disability, whether through illness or an accident, can be devastating on people in Illinois and their families but the Social Security Administration has a disability program that is designed to provide financial support. In order to show that they qualify for benefits, people must go through a lengthy and complicated application process and one of the things that they must submit is a work history questionnaire.
Listing jobs
People applying for disability must provide the SSA with a history of the jobs they have held over the previous 15 years. This will likely require some research if the person has worked for several companies during that time frame. Applicants need to write down what the title of their position was, the type of business they were involved with such as retail or telecommunications, and the dates of their employment. The purpose of providing a work history is for applicants to show the SSA that they have worked and contributed to the Social Security program. It also gives the evaluator a picture of the type of work that the applicant has been doing before the disability.
Job details
The next portion on the work history questionnaire refers to the details related to each job. Applicants will need to report the following items:
- Pay rate and pay schedule
- Hours per week day and week worked
- Description of work duties – answering phones, greeting people, retrieving orders, creating reports or maintaining a website
- The types of skills used in the job
- Physical activity – walking, standing, sitting, lifting heavy objects, reaching for items and kneeling. Always make sure to include the longest amount of time for each activity and the heaviest weight lifted.
- Any supervisory responsibility – for example, did the applicant serve as a team lead over a project or participate in the hiring and firing of employees?
When people are filling out this portion, they should provide as much information as possible. A work history with details provides the evaluator with a clear understanding of the physical, mental and emotional capacity of applicants before their disability.
Using the remark section
It is highly likely that applicants will need additional space in order to give the information required by the work history questionnaire. At the end of the history report, there is a remark section where applicants can add additional data to support their claim for SSD benefits. When people use this section, they should make sure that each set of remarks is correctly tied to the correct job. One way to do this is to write the job number before each section and include the page number they are continuing that section from. Filling out forms for SSD can be quite confusing so people should seek the counsel and assistance of an experienced attorney to avoid unnecessary errors.
