Telephone Quotation Clerk as Representative of Other Unskilled Information Clerks

A pure DOT-based assault on the vocational expert's identification of an occupation followed by the dance off the hook, it represents other occupations in other industries.  The depth of vocational expert push to identify work regardless of the truth and to defend the indefensible never surprises me, anymore.  I expect it.  

The vocational expert testified to information clerk, DOT 237.367-046.  This identification came in response to a question that assumed a range of sedentary work with simple, repetitive tasks.  

237.367-046 TELEPHONE QUOTATION CLERK (financial) alternate titles: information clerk, brokerage; quote clerk; telephone-information clerk

    Answers telephone calls from customers requesting current stock quotations and provides information posted on electronic quote board. Relays calls to REGISTERED REPRESENTATIVE (financial) 250.257-018 as requested by customer. May call customers to inform them of stock quotations.
GOE: 07.04.04 STRENGTH: S GED: R3 M2 L3 SVP: 2 DLU: 77

The vocational expert identified this occupation as requiring reasoning level 2.  The DOT describes the work as requiring reasoning level 3.  The DOT defines reasoning level as:

03 LEVEL REASONING DEVELOPMENT

Apply commonsense understanding to carry out instructions furnished in written, oral, or diagrammatic form. Deal with problems involving several concrete variables in or from standardized situations.

02 LEVEL REASONING DEVELOPMENT

Apply commonsense understanding to carry out detailed but uninvolved written or oral instructions. Deal with problems involving a few concrete variables in or from standardized situations.

01 LEVEL REASONING DEVELOPMENT

Apply commonsense understanding to carry out simple one- or two-step instructions. Deal with standardized situations with occasional or no variables in or from these situations encountered on the job.

Quotation clerk or information clerk is not simple, repetitive work.  The testimony conflicts with and fails to provide a reasonable basis for resolving that conflict.  20 C.F.R. § 404.1566(d)(1); Social Security Ruling 00-4p.

The vocational expert conceded that the occupation with a primary function of answering phone calls for current stock quotations and providing information posted no longer exists.  The vocational expert suggested that other types of information giving clerks could exist in the national economy.  The testimony lacks specificity and did not rely on a labor market survey.  

An information clerk in the clerical industry (and thus applicable across industry lines) requires reasoning level 4 and is semi-skilled. 

237.367-022 INFORMATION CLERK (clerical)

    Answers inquiries from persons entering establishment: Provides information regarding activities conducted at establishment, and location of departments, offices, and employees within organization. Informs customer of location of store merchandise in retail establishment. Provides information concerning services, such as laundry and valet services, in hotel. Receives and answers requests for information from company officials and employees. May call employees or officials to information desk to answer inquiries. May keep record of questions asked.
GOE: 07.04.04 STRENGTH: S GED: R4 M2 L3 SVP: 4 DLU: 86

The oft-cited information clerk in thetransportation-related industries requires reasoning level 4 and requires light exertion because of the standing. 

237.367-018 INFORMATION CLERK (motor trans.; r.r. trans.; water trans.) alternate titles: travel clerk

    Provides travel information for bus or train patrons: Answers inquiries regarding departures, arrivals, stops, and destinations of scheduled buses or trains. Describes routes, services, and accommodations available. Furnishes patrons with timetables and travel literature. Computes and quotes rates for interline trips, group tours, and special discounts for children and military personnel, using rate tables.
GOE: 07.04.04 STRENGTH: L GED: R4 M2 L3 SVP: 2 DLU: 77

The vocational expert’s concession that the telephone quotation clerk does not continue to exist as described in the DOT but that other occupations provide information over the telephone finds its answer in the DOT — information clerks are semi-skilled and require reasoning level 4.  The failure of the vocational expert to identify the occupation identified as requiring reasoning level 3 provides ample basis to conclude that the occupation fails to meet the requirements of the hypothetical posed.  

Cashier II and the Sit-Stand Option

A recent case drove me to ask the question whether cashiers exist with a sit-stand option.  The O*NET OnLine lists cashiers at 41-2011.00.  Cashier II is an obnoxious favorite of vocational experts for the sit-stand option.  

The BLS Data Finder 1.0 for the Occupation Requirements Survey is where we start.  I select occupational requirements under characteristics; I include characteristics occupation and the sub-category of sales and office occupations. I select sitting/standing/walking as my physical requirement detail.  That gives me a long list of reports.  But there it is:

Data extracted on: Aug 9, 2017 (9:26:49 AM)

Occupational Requirements Survey

Series Title	:	Civilian workers; % of cashiers; sitting vs. standing/walking at will is not allowed
Series ID	:	ORUP1000066700000140
Seasonality	:	Not Seasonally Adjusted
Survey Name	:	Occupational Requirements Survey
Measure Data Type	:	Percentage
Industry	:	All workers
Occupation	:	Cashiers
Class of Worker	:	All workers
Requirements	:	Physical Requirement
Type of cases	:	Sitting vs. standing/walking at will

Latest Observation:Annual 201693.0 

Annual 2016 - Annual 2016Minimum Value: Annual 201693.0
Maximum Value: Annual 201693.0
Data Availability:2016 - 2016

The job can't be sedentary, we figured that one out.  Some of them might allow a sit-stand option -- but 93% of them do not.  

There are a lot of cashiers out there and the Occupational Outlook Handbook describes the lot of them as unskilled.  Of the 3.4 million cashier jobs, 7% is still 238,000 jobs is still significant.  But generally unskilled does not mean that all of them are unskilled, just most.  Turns out that 81.3% of cashiers have training time of one month or less.  I doubt that it would be valid to assume 7% of the light base has the SSO.  Nor would I assume that the 18.7% of skilled/semi-skilled jobs are scattered evenly among the ranges of exertion.  If the vocational expert said that there were in excess of 190,000 SSO jobs as an unskilled cashier, probably can't beat that with this data.  Give me a limitation to simple repetitive tasks, manipulative limitation, or a public contact limitation and we can still knock this occupation out.  

Production Workers, All Other -- Are There Significant Numbers of Unskilled Jobs?

We discuss, again, the often cited occupational group of production workers, all other.  This occupational group travels under the Standard Occupational Classification code 51-9199.  The O*NET lists 1,590 DOT codes in this group.  The Occupational Outlook Handbook moved 60 DOT codes to food processing workers, all other (SOC 51-3099) between 2010 and 2012.  We can prove that another day.  The focus of this article addresses the question of whether unskilled production worker, all other jobs exist in significant numbers.

We start with the concept of administrative notice.  The Commissioner "will take administrative notice" of the OOH.  20 C.F.R. §§ 404.1566(d)(5); 416.966(d)(5).  Because the Commissioner takes administrative notice of the OOH, we can use it to rebut vocational expert testimony.  Since the Commissioner takes administrative notice of the OOH, we need to examine what it says about this huge accumulation of DOT codes:

Production workers, all other

All production workers not listed separately.

• 2014 employment: 236,200
• May 2015 median annual wage: $27,950
• Projected employment change, 2014–24:
  • Number of new jobs: 7,700
  • Growth rate: 3 percent (Slower than average)
• Education and training:
  • Typical entry-level education: High school diploma or equivalent
  • Work experience in a related occupation: None
  • Typical on-the-job training: Moderate-term on-the-job training
• O*NET:
• 51-9199.00 - Production Workers, All Other
• 51-9199.01 - Recycling and Reclamation Workers  

The occupational group requires a high school diploma or equivalent.  That means that the majority of these occupations are unavailable to individuals with a limited or marginal education absent some factor that suggests a higher educational level capacity than achieved in school.  

The occupational group does not require experience.  These are entry-level jobs.  

The occupational group entails moderate-term on-the-job training.  These jobs are not unskilled.  

Are there some unskilled occupations and jobs inside of production workers, all other?  Maybe, but not very many.  The occupational group exists in industries not encompassed by the DOT.  The economy changed between 1977 when some of the DOT codes were last updated and changed again since 1991 when Labor last published the revised DOT.  The OOH is a source of administrative notice; it is listed on the Vocational Expert Handbook as mandatory familiarity for the vocational expert.  But when a vocational expert testifies to 30,000 sedentary unskilled and 100,000 light unskilled jobs in this occupational base, the responsible representative must ask for an explanation.  Ignorance of the OOH just means that the witness cannot provide a reasonable basis for resolving the conflict.