Medium Work and Standing/Walking -- SSR 83-10 is Wrong as Interpreted

 Does medium unskilled work require a maximum of six hours of standing/walking in an eight-hour day?  That is what Social Security Ruling 83-10 implies.  At least two court decisions have found that the mere invocation of the term medium necessarily signals to the vocational witness that the ALJ intends to include that limitation to standing/walking six hours in an eight-hour day.  The understanding of SSR 83-10 as imposing a six-hour lid on standing/walking is linguistically wrong and more importantly is factually wrong.  

We have addressed the approximately six hours language in the past as modified by the description of sitting may occur intermittently during the remaining time.  As possessors of a legal education, we know that may is permissive but not necessarily.  We also know that intermittently does not mean all.  We also know that the remaining time does not mean that the person sits intermittently during the day.  The adverb intermittently describes the frequency of the adjective-noun sequence, the remaining time.  To cling to the notion that medium work requires six hours of standing/walking is to misread the ruling.  That is not what it says.  To be fair, the courts have not construed the language but instead agreed that ALJs and VWs think that.  On that proposition, the courts are probably right that that is what the typical ALJ things and about a third of VWs.  The more important question is whether any of them have a reliable basis in the data available from the Department of Labor.  The answer to that question is "no." 

First, the DOT does not define medium work with any discernible limit on the amount of standing/walking during a workday.  The only range of work that has a limit on standing/walking is sedentary work, not more than occasionally.  The regulations do not define medium work with any discernible limit on the amount of standing/walking during a workday. As to medium work, the concept of standing/walking is not mentioned -- at all -- in either the DOT or the regulations.

The factual question is whether all, most, some, or even a few medium occupations permit sitting.  The answer is clearly "yes," bus drivers and truck drivers sit.  Those are not unskilled occupations but illustrate that some medium work requires sitting.  

The unskilled DOT codes that require medium exertion narrow the focus.  The DOT lists 981 medium occupations with SVP 1 or 2.  

Production Workers, All Other

The largest aggregation of those medium unskilled DOT codes falls in the classification of Production Workers, All Other (SOC 51-9199).  The Occupational Requirements Survey reports that production workers stand 90% of the workday at the 10th percentile and reports that production workers stand six hours out of the workday at the 10th percentile.  The numbers don't correspond until we consider that some of the jobs are part-time.  Then and only then can 90% correlate to six hours.  Part-time work does not count at step five of the sequential evaluation process.  

It really does not matter that 85% of the production workers engage in medium exertion.  What matters is that no reported range of production workers stand not more than six hours of an eight-hour day whether medium, heavy, very heavy, light, or sedentary (none).  As an aside, the ORS further reports that 94% of production workers do not have a choice of sitting or standing in any circumstance.  

Helpers -- Production Workers

Helpers-Production Workers (SOC 51-9198) contains 172 medium unskilled DOT codes.  The ORS does not report standing at the 10th percentile nor its corresponding data point of sitting at the 90th percentile. Why?  The data are not reliable to report according to the federal government statistical standards.  

The ORS reports that helpers stand 7.2 hours or 90% of the workday at the 25th and 50th percentiles. The mean values are 7.23 hours and 88.3% of the workday.  These averages imply some part-time work and some data points less than 90% of the workday at lower unreported percentiles that do not meet statistical standards. The ORS reports that 76.5% of helpers engage in medium work; 14.8% engage in light work.  The data does not permit an inference that a significant number of helper jobs permit standing/walking not more than six hours for medium work (or light work and erase the existence of sedentary work).  

Machine Feeders and Offbearers

Machine Feeders and Offbearers (SOC 53-7063) contains 102 medium unskilled DOT codes. This entire occupational group represents between 60,000 and 63,000 jobs according to the OWES and OOH, respectively.  It is not a large occupational group in terms of numbers of jobs considering 291 DOT codes covering all skill and exertional levels. 

The 2021 dataset from the ORS does not report information about machine feeders and offbearers.  The final first wave 2018 dataset does report on this group.  Machine feeders and offbearers stand/walk eight hours or 100% of the day at the median.  Machine feeders and offbearers engage in medium work in 55% of jobs.  There is not basis on this data to assume that machine feeders and offbearers engage in medium work and sit at least two hours per day.  

Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners

Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners (SOC 37-2011) contains a mere eight DOT codes but contains occupations identified with regularity by the VW in search of DOT codes with simple tasks and low interpersonal contact.  Janitors and cleaners stand 3.2 hours per day at the 10th percentile and 5 hours per day at the 25th percentile.  Because of the existence of part-time work, we cannot take the number of hours as dispositive.  The ORS reports that janitors and cleaners stand 80% of the workday at the 10th percentile and 92.5$% at the 25th percentile.  When janitors and cleaners engage in medium work, or any other range of work, on a full-time basis, they do not sit at least two hours in a workday.

CONCLUSION

After examining the occupational groups that contain the plurality of jobs identified, the inference that medium unskilled work requires more than about or approximately six hours of standing/walking in a full=time work setting.  The reading Social Security Ruling 83-10 as implying a ceiling of six hours of standing/walking is wrong.  Some medium work may require sitting intermittently during the remaining two hours.  

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Suggested Citation:

Lawrence Rohlfing, Medium Work and Standing/Walking -- SSR 83-10 is Wrong as Interpreted, California Social Security Attorney (September 5, 2022) (updated October 5, 2022) https://californiasocialsecurityattorney.blogspot.com

The author has been AV-rated since 2000 and listed in Super Lawyers since 2009.