The Range of Worked Maxed Out - Maxwell v. Saul

Trudging through the opinions published under the tenure of Andrew Saul, we turn to Maxwell v. Saul. 

Maxwell v. Saul, 971 F. 3d 1128 (9th Cir. 2020) - this is a case of a split remedy. The Court affirmed the finding of not disabled prior to age 55. As to the period beginning at age 55, the ALJ relied on testimony of a vocational witness that Maxwell could perform two occupations with transferrable skills. For a person limited to light work over the age of 55, that person is not disabled if they possess transferable skills to a range of skilled or semi-skilled work. 20 C.F.R. pt. 404, subpt. P, app. 2, Rule 202.07, n.2 referring to 202.00(c). Lounsburry v. Barnhart, 468 F.3d 1111, 1115 (9th Cir. 2006), as amended (Nov. 7, 2006) held that a single occupation was not a range of work. Held, two occupations does not satisfy a range of work.

Before getting to the merits, Maxwell held that the claimant does not have an obligation to challenge the ALJ decision before it is written. Nor does the claimant have an obligation to raise purely legal issues to the Appeals Council.

Sales representative, commercial equipment and supplies is a light occupation requiring SVP 4. Labor classifies sales representative as having MPSMS codes of 617 and 460 with work field 292.

Salesperson, burial needs is light work with an SVP of 5. Labor classifies salesperson has having MPSMS codes of 881 and 907 with work field 292.

Whatever skills Maxwell had from her past relevant work, I doubt that she accumulated the transferable skills for MPSMS codes 617, 460, 881, and 907. If the person does not have at least the first two digits of every MPSMS code and Work Field in the past relevant work, transferability of skills does not exist. We discuss the issue of TSA process description in POMS in POMS DI 25015.017 in that blog. The report and recommendation is not available and neither the order adopting or Maxwell inform us of the past work designation. TSA probably does not exist at all in this case. I was and remain ecstatic that the Court reached the right result in Maxwell but would have found the decision more complete by taking the vocational witness and the ALJ to task for violating POMS DI 25015.017.

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Suggested Citation:

Lawrence Rohlfing, The Range of Worked Maxed Out - Maxwell v. Saul, California Social Security Attorney (April 4, 2023) https://californiasocialsecurityattorney.blogspot.com

The author has been AV-rated since 2000 and listed in Super Lawyers since 2008.