Common DOT Codes -- Sedentary Unskilled -- Charge-Account Clerk

Sedentary work that does not exceed six hours of sitting in an eight-hour day represents a small window.  The DOT and the regulations define sedentary work as involving standing or walking not more than occasionally, 2.3 hours.  Sedentary work as depicted by a residual functional capacity question with a lower limit of 5.7 hours an upper limit of 6.0 hours constitutes a slender reed.  

 Understanding sedentary work rests on the difference between and and or.  Light work exists (1) when it requires walking or standing to a significant degree; OR (2) when it requires sitting most of the time but entails pushing and/or pulling of arm or leg controls; AND/OR (3) when the job requires working at a production rate pace entailing the constant pushing and/or pulling of materials even though the weight of those materials is negligible.  

Sedentary work exists when the work (1) when it does not require walking or standing to a significant degree; AND (2) when it requires sitting most of the time and does not involve pushing and/or pulling of arm or leg controls; AND (3) when the job requires working at a production rate pace but does not entail the constant pushing and/or pulling of materials even though the weight of those materials is negligible.  Transgressing the standing/walking, lifting/carrying, pushing/pulling with the arms or legs, or production rate pace strips away any hope for that sedentary label.  

The cadre of vocational experts rely on 16 different DOT codes in the sedentary range.  Ignoring obsolescence and industry, the question is whether the occupations are unskilled, sedentary, and do not exceed 6.0 hours of sitting in a full-time workday.  

4.  Charge-Account Clerk (DOT 205.367-014)

Interviewers, Except Eligibility and Loan (SOC 43-4111) represents about 180,000 jobs in seven DOT codes.  The ORS reports SVP 2 or less in 17.7% of jobs.  The ORS reports sitting 90% of the workday at the median but 76.2% of the workday at the mean.  The ORS does not give data for the 25th or 10th percentiles.  Less than half the jobs have a sitting requirement of 6.0 hours or less.  

The ORS does report a choice of sitting or standing is allowed in 67.1% of jobs.  The 2020 Collections Manual describes the choice:

This element captures jobs that have the ability to choose or control how and when they respond to external factors. When collecting for this element, consult the job’s documented task list to determine whether any of the critical tasks assigned would prevent the ability to sit/stand at will. 

 The ORS Collections Manual also codes sitting where:

Workers may choose between sitting and standing for a given task. For example, office workers can choose a standing desk.

A standing desk may represent an accommodation and therefore irrelevant for Social Security purposes.  SSR 00-1c.  

The O*NET OnLine provides support for the ORS data and conclusions.  

Exertional	%	Response
Spend Time Sitting — How much does this job require sitting?	75	Continually or almost continually
	8	More than half the time
	16	About half the time
	0	Less than half the time
	0	Never
Spend Time Standing — How much does this job require standing?	0	Continually or almost continually
	0	More than half the time
	4	About half the time
	73	Less than half the time
	23	Never
Spend Time Walking and Running — How much does this job require walking and running?	0	Continually or almost continually
	0	More than half the time
	10	About half the time
	79	Less than half the time
	11	Never

According to the O*NET, at least 11% of jobs have no weightbearing, they sit all day.  About 16% of jobs cannot be classified as sedentary because they do not sit more than frequently during the workday.  This data is consistent with the observation with the ORS that at least half of interviewers sit in excess of 6 hours in a workday.  With only 17.7% of jobs representing unskilled work representing less than 32,000 jobs, the number of unskilled sedentary interviewers is less than 15,000.  

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Suggested Citation:

Lawrence Rohlfing, Common DOT Codes -- Sedentary Unskilled -- Charge-Account Clerk, California Social Security Attorney (December 17, 2021)  https://californiasocialsecurityattorney.blogspot.com