Common DOT Codes -- Sedentary Unskilled -- Order Clerk, Food and Beverage

 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.  

12.  Order Clerk, Food and Beverage

Order clerk, food and beverage belongs to the occupational group of Order Clerks (SOC 43-4151) (order clerks).  Order clerks represent about 125,000 jobs in 11 DOT codes.  The ORS reports SVP 2 or less in 37/5% of jobs.  The ORS reports sedentary work in 71.2% of jobs, sitting 90% of the workday at the median but 81.2% of the workday at the mean.  The ORS reports sitting 70% of the workday at the 10th percentile and 75% of the workday at the 25th percentile.  Less than half the jobs have a sitting requirement of 6.0 hours or less.  Order clerks have a choice of sitting or standing in 88.8% of jobs.  

The statistical problem must account for the 16.9% of medium jobs and the 11.9% of jobs with no exertional demand specified.  Sitting does correlate with sedentary work.  The jobs that sit all day without a choice are more likely to represent sedentary jobs rather than light or medium work.  The ORS reports the lifting/carrying for order clerks:

Lifting/Carrying
Lifting/Carrying Type	Value
lifting or carrying no weight is required, seldom	11.1%
lifting or carrying negligible weight is required, seldom	40.9%
lifting or carrying >1 lb and less than or equal to 10 lbs is required, seldom	20.6%
lifting or carrying > 25 lbs and less than or equal to 50 lbs is required, seldom	16.9%
lifting or carrying no weight is required, occasionally	27.8%
lifting or carrying negligible weight is required, occasionally	51.8%
lifting or carrying >1 lb and less than or equal to 10 lbs is required, occasionally	16.7%
lifting or carrying no weight is required, frequently	88.7%
lifting or carrying no weight is required, constantly	100%

The missing data concerns that lifting/carrying seldom (less than 2% of the workday) more than 10 pounds and less than 25 pounds.  For those following along, this reflects the choice of Labor to redefine light work as lifting/carrying up to 25 pounds occasionally.  Why that data point does not meet OMB standards is not published.  

The O*NET OnLine provides additional insight into order clerks as qualifying unskilled sedentary work.  Excluding part-time work eliminates very few jobs:

Duration of Typical Work Week
Hours	Value
Less Than 40 Hours	4.05%
40 Hours	67.6%
More Than 40 Hours	28.2%

The incumbent reports of sitting, standing, and walking suggest more light/medium and fewer sedentary jobs:

Exertional	%	Response
Spend Time Sitting — How much does this job require sitting?	41	Continually or almost continually
	48	More than half the time
	10	About half the time
	2	Less than half the time
	0	Never
Spend Time Standing — How much does this job require standing?	0	Continually or almost continually
	2	More than half the time
	5	About half the time
	85	Less than half the time
	8	Never
Spend Time Walking and Running — How much does this job require walking and running?	0	Continually or almost continually
	5	More than half the time
	25	About half the time
	59	Less than half the time
	11	Never

Using the OOH jobs numbers (133,900) and the ORS SVP requirements, the number of unskilled order clerks drops to 50,000 jobs.  Accounting for sedentary jobs and treating skill and exertion as independent variables reduces the number to 36,000 jobs.  Two-thirds of the jobs require sitting more than 6.0 hours per day leaving about 12,000 jobs.  

The key to order clerk, food and beverage rests elsewhere.  It is not simple (reasoning level 3) and requires constant contact with others in most jobs and frequent contact with others in the balance of jobs per the O*NET.  Order clerk, food and beverage requires teamwork in all but 1% of jobs, again per the O*NET.  This occupation would also require examination of the industries in which it exists, hotel and restaurant according to the DOT.  Where other unskilled sedentary work exists and the requirements of those jobs in the DOT scheme is unknown.  The DOT-SOC crosswalk lists 8 sedentary DOT codes that require skills.  This occupational group contains occupations not detailed in the DOT.  

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Suggested Citation:

Lawrence Rohlfing, Common DOT Codes -- Sedentary Unskilled -- Order Clerk, Food and Beverage, California Social Security Attorney (January 1, 2022)  https://californiasocialsecurityattorney.blogspot.com