Haddock V. Apfel

If a disability claimant shows that he can no longer perform any of his past jobs, he is disabled unless the administrative law Judge (ALJ) finds that he can do some other kind of work. In this case, the ALJ found that claimant retained the residual functional capacity (RFC) only for sedentary work that would allow him to alternate sitting and standing and that was, at most, semi-skilled. In response to the ALJ's hypothetical question including these restrictions, a vocational expert (VE) summarily identified four jobs claimant ostensibly could perform. The Dictionary of Occupational Titles, which was not discussed at the hearing, indicates that these jobs generally require greater exertional capacity than the ALJ found this claimant to have. We hold that before an ALJ may rely on expert vocational evidence as substantial evidence to support a determination of non-disability, the ALJ must ask the expert how his or her testimony as to the exertional requirement of identified jobs corresponds with the Dictionary of Occupational Titles, and elicit a reasonable explanation for any discrepancy on this point. *fn3