Labor Classifies the Sit-Stand Option as Sitting

The Occupational Requirements Survey is the intended replacement for the Dictionary of Occupational Titles.  Question 2 of the General Questions and Answers states:

SSA uses five steps of Sequential Evaluation to determine whether disability applicants qualify for benefits. At steps 4 and 5 of this process, adjudicators need information about a representative sample of occupations in the national economy to determine whether people with functional limitations resulting from severe impairments can still perform work. Currently, SSA uses the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) at steps 4 and 5, and it has not been updated in more than 20 years. SSA is developing an Occupational Information System to replace the DOT which will incorporate the data collected through ORS. This information is crucial to the equitable and efficient operation of SSA‘s disability programs.

The ORS gathers data according to Labor's understanding of SSA needs.   The Collection Manual, Third Edition, describes the data and defines the terms.  Chapter 7 describes the physical demands of work to perform the critical tasks.  Sitting vs. standing/walking at will exists when:

• Workers typically have the flexibility to choose between sitting and standing throughout the day.  
• There is no assigned time during the day to sit or stand/walk. 
• No external factors determine whether workers must sit or stand/walk.

Collection Manual, page 78.  Examples of sitting vs. standing/walking at will include:

1. An office clerk can choose when to file and typically stands while filing invoices. 
2. A pharmaceutical sales rep driving to clients can choose when to make trips and additional stops.
3. An elementary teacher may sit or stand to instruct students and while monitoring them on duties.

Id.  Examples of work that is not classified as sitting vs. standing/walking at will include:

1. An over-the-road truck driver must meet a delivery schedule. He stops to refuel and for weigh stations.
2. An event parking lot attendant must stand when cars are entering the parking lot to accept payment and direct cars.
3. A security guard chooses to sit or stand, except when she walks to investigate suspicious situations.

Id.  The SSO envisions the worker performing the same tasks while either sitting or standing.  If that option exists for all workers, it is not an accommodation.  Id., page 9.  

The phrasing of a sit/stand option (SSO) represents a different problem than sitting v. standing/walking at will.  The ORS defines sitting as the function critical to performing work:

• Workers remain in a seated position. This includes active sitting. For instance, bicyclists sit but pushes/pulls with their feet/legs.
• Workers are inactive and seated or prone. For instance, a medical resident on call for a thirty-hour shift taking a strategic nap is sitting.
• Workers may choose between sitting and standing for a given task. For example, office workers can choose a standing desk.

Id., page 73.  An occupation that permits the worker to choose between sitting and standing at will throughout the day to perform the sames tasks carries the descriptor of sitting, not standing/walking.

The broad classification of production occupations (SOC 51-0000.00) would not permit an SSO throughout the day:

Series ID: ORUP1000047P00001002

Not seasonally adjusted

Series Title: production occupations; % of day sitting is required (90th percentile)

Requirement: Physical Demands

Occupation: Production Occupations

Estimate: % of day sitting is required (90th percentile)

Year	Period	Estimate
2018	Annual	66.7

https://beta.bls.gov/dataViewer/view/timeseries/ORUP1000047P00001002

A significant range of production occupations do have the ability to change tasks during the workday:

Series ID: ORUP1000047P00000139

Not seasonally adjusted

Series Title: % of workers in production occupations; sitting vs. standing/walking at will is allowed

Requirement: Physical Demands

Occupation: Production Occupations

Estimate: sitting vs. standing/walking at will is allowed

Year	Period	Estimate
2018	Annual	15.1

https://beta.bls.gov/dataViewer/view/timeseries/ORUP1000047P00000139

Production occupations represent 9.4 million jobs in the economy and 6.5 million jobs in the manufacturing sector.  This includes every line item SOC group with the first two digits of 51.  Production occupations (SOC 51-0000.00) is summary designation that includes smaller summary designations and line items (specific SOC designations).  

The broad classification of transportation and material moving occupations (SOC 53-0000.00) warrants individual occupational group investigation on the question of SSO:

Series ID: ORUP1000048P00001002

Not seasonally adjusted

Series Title: transportation and material moving occupations; % of day sitting is required (90th percentile)

Requirement: Physical Demands

Occupation: Transportation and Material Moving Occupations

Estimate: % of day sitting is required (90th percentile)

Year	Period	Estimate
2018	Annual	90

https://beta.bls.gov/dataViewer/view/timeseries/ORUP1000048P00001002

A less significant range of transportation and material moving occupations do have the ability to change tasks during the workday:

Series ID: ORUP1000048P00000139

Not seasonally adjusted

Series Title: % of workers in transportation and material moving occupations; sitting vs. standing/walking at will is allowed

Requirement: Physical Demands

Occupation: Transportation and Material Moving Occupations

Estimate: sitting vs. standing/walking at will is allowed

Year	Period	Estimate
2018	Annual	9.4

https://beta.bls.gov/dataViewer/view/timeseries/ORUP1000048P00000139

Transportation and material moving occupations represent 10.8 million jobs in the economy and just under 1 million jobs in the manufacturing sector.  This includes every line item SOC group with the first two digits of 53.  Transportation and material moving occupations (SOC 53-0000.00) is summary designation that includes smaller summary designations and line items (specific SOC designations).  

The cross-examination path when a vocational expert identifies work permitting an SSO focuses first on the availability of the SSO to all workers.  If the SSO is not available to all workers, it is an accommodation.  

Second, cross-examination must establish whether the worker has more than one critical work function that requires different positions (sitting or standing/walking).  Those occupations do not have an SSO, they have the ability to choose when to perform other tasks as long as all the sitting and standing/walking tasks are done during the workday.  

Third, cross-examination or post-hearing development must establish whether the ORS classifies the critical work functions as performed sitting or standing/walking.  If the ORS classifies the work functions as standing/walking, the work does not permit an SSO.  If the ORS classifies the work functions as sitting, then the work might permit an SSO.  That might require further exploration of the first question.  

An SSO is a devastating work limitation as described in SSR 83-12.  

Unskilled types of jobs are particularly structured so that a person cannot ordinarily sit or stand at will.

An SSO for unskilled jobs should be the exception, not the rule  -- unless the Commissioner intends to rescind the statement of binding agency policy. 

How Does the Department of Labor Define the Sit-Stand Option?

The sit-stand option is a common thread in the adjudication of Social Security disability cases.  The ability to sit or stand at will of the worker to address the presence of pain or other physical discomfort arises with regularity.

Some ALJs describe the sit-stand option as changing positions with the loss of productivity or efficiency.  That assumption -- that a person can change positions at will without the loss of productivity or efficiency -- lacks the support of substantial evidence.  Getting up requires diverting the hands and arms while using the feet or legs for balance with the added concept of core strength that necessarily distracts from the productivity or efficiency of the job functions, unless the person has a job that is not physical.  These jobs have "not significant" codes for data and things at the fourth and sixth digits of the DOT codes.  See DICOT Appendix B and the free DOC/SCO/SCO summary report for all 13,000 DOT codes on OccuCollect.  (You must register to get free reports, that is all).

The observation starts the inquiry with the premise that SSA adjudicators do not know what a sit-stand option means.  It starts with the training and extends with adjudicatory bias.  The analysis starts with the Department of Labor nomenclature: "sitting vs. standing/walking at will."

Sitting or standing at will - workers can alternate between sitting and standing. Sitting or standing at will is present when the following conditions exist:

• Workers typically have the flexibility to choose between sitting and standing throughout the workday. Riding a bicycle includes pushing or pulling with feet and legs; while mowing may include gross manipulation or pulling and pulling with the hands and arms.

• There is no assigned time during the day to sit or stand.

• No external factors determine whether an employee must sit or stand.

While there may be tasks that require workers to be sitting or standing, if workers can determine when to perform that specific critical tasks, then they may still have the ability to sit or stand at will. For example, 95.4 percent of computer systems analysts can choose between sitting, standing, or walking at will while 97.7 percent of workers in food preparation and serving related occupations cannot choose between these physical demands.

 The three elements that make up the sitting vs standing/walking at will are flexibility, the absence of an assigned time to sit or stand, and the absence of external factors that require the worker to sit or stand.  The first sentence of the explanation synthesizes the three elements: when a job requires sitting or standing to perform job duties, the sitting vs standing/walking at will exists when the worker can choose "when" to perform those critical tasks.

The 2016 and 2017 data sets had very limited estimates for sitting vs standing/walking at will.  The 2018 data set, released April 25, 2019, has a more expansive list of occupations that permit the sitting vs standing/walking at will.  These include the ubiquitous production workers, all other, (SOC 51-9199).

Don't let the inclusion of a sitting vs standing/walking at will get too overwhelming -- the number of jobs that permit sitting vs standing/walking at will is 23.6%.  That does not change 53% of jobs that do not require skills (SVP 2),  the 63.9% that require medium exertion, or that production workers stand/walk 87.5% of the day at the 25th percentile.  Sitting vs standing/walking at will does not represent an elimination of whether the worker must sit or stand, it changes the when the worker will sit or stand.

Labor will continue to describe work as it is actually performed in the national economy and SSA will likely continue to listen to its own institutional bias and uninformed vocational experts.  Labor does not have a dog in the fight and is therefore inherently more trustworthy.  SSA must abide by its promise to take administrative notice.