Pain, weakness or limited mobility can keep you from returning to a physically demanding job, but that alone does not establish disability. The Social Security Administration (SSA) may still consider you capable of less strenuous employment, making the requirements of “light work” important to your claim.
Defining light work’s demands
Light work is one of five exertional categories in SSA’s disability evaluation. Federal regulations set a 20-pound maximum for lifting at one time, along with frequent lifting of items weighing up to 10 pounds. In this context, “frequent” means from one-third to two-thirds of the workday.
To perform the full range of light work, you generally must be able to stand or walk, off and on, for about six hours during an eight-hour shift. Jobs that involve mostly sitting can also qualify as light if they require pushing or pulling arm or leg controls. The label therefore reflects what you can sustain on a regular schedule, not whether a position seems undemanding.
Assessing your residual capacity
The rules for lifting, standing and walking outline the general light-work category. SSA then evaluates your residual functional capacity, or the most you can still do despite your condition, to determine how that category applies to you.
Medical evidence and your description of symptoms help show whether you need to change positions, rest during the day or reduce certain activities. If the SSA overlooks how often those difficulties arise, it may identify jobs that your restrictions would prevent you from performing.
Challenging an overstated finding
If SSA places you at the light-work level without fully accounting for your restrictions, an appeal allows you to address the evidence it relied on and the reasoning behind its decision. Updated treatment records, a functional capacity evaluation and a detailed account of your former duties may show where the earlier review went wrong.
You may request reconsideration and, if SSA again denies the claim, seek a hearing before an administrative law judge. Additional evidence may support either step, although you generally must submit or identify new material at least five business days before the hearing.
The judge may call a vocational expert to address whether your restrictions allow you to perform past work or other jobs. That testimony can show that fewer occupations remain at the light level than the earlier finding suggests.