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.