Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing

08/08/2025

Obrien v. Bisignano ... a win for social security claimants.

The Ninth Circuit published its opinion in Obrien v. Bisignano on July 1, 2025. This is a step four past relevant work claim. Obrien arose...

07/25/2025

https://californiasocialsecurityattorney.blogspot.com/2025/07/it-is-percentage-of-day-not-hours-of.html

In a NOSSCR CLE and in hearings before SSA, I heard presenters, vocational witnesses, and ALJs express reliance on the hours of the day for ...

03/21/2025

In the age of SSR 24-3p and the general description of methodology, the industry in which an occupation exists matters.

In SSR 24-3p , the Commissioner of Social Security doubles down on the viability of the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) as a reliab...

02/26/2025

The vocational witness part of Social Security disability hearings is a lottery. There is not consistency or reliability in the process.

SSR 24-3p introduces a new interpretation of the stable administrative notice regulation, 20 CFR 404.1566(d). The Commissioner has long hel...

01/28/2025

The SSA training video for SSR 24-3p

https://californiasocialsecurityattorney.blogspot.com/2025/01/the-training-video-and-why-onet-remains.html

Bad, very bad, disappointingly bad.

An Introduction to New Social Security Ruling 24-3p for Vocational Experts is a must watch. Deputy Associate Chief ALJ David Pang is your h...

01/27/2025

Biestek vs. SSR 24-3p. The smart money is on the Supremes.

I have seen this occupation in my vast experience as a vocational rehabilitation provider and based on my education, training, and experienc...

01/07/2025

https://californiasocialsecurityattorney.blogspot.com/2025/01/storage-facility-rental-clerk-skilltran.html

I demonstrate how to undermine reliability of storage-facility rental clerk cited by a vocational witness and relying on SkillTRAN as the source.

04/03/2024

I analyze the decision in Conway v. O’Malley. This is an incredibly important decision on the importance of cross-examining VW about their utter prevarication.

No, Vocational Experts Do Not Assume that Light and Medium Includes a Six-Hour Limit - Conway v. O'Malley

In Terry v. Saul , 998 F.3d 1010 (9th Cir. 2021), the court ruled that if an ALJ told the vocational expert to assume an ability to perform...

03/08/2024

Two unpublished decisions with one common mistake, raising the incomplete hypo question when it does not apply.

Two months into the 2024 calendar and the Ninth Circuit has issued nine unpublished memoranda. We take a look at those dispositions to get ...

02/26/2024

Some of the hyperlinks to ORS data in JBP are broken. Here’s the fix.

Vocational witnesses identify marker, DOT 209.387-034, as a go to light occupation with simple routine or repetitive duties involving occa...

02/19/2024

The second final wave data is out with more and better data.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the 2023 data set for the ORS. BLS has finally filled in the gaps and reported significantly more da...

01/08/2024

Ninth Circuit upholds the physician opinion consideration process as reasonable under the APA and SS Act. But does the APA apply? Not sure.

The Ninth Circuit published its opinion in Cross v. O'Malley on January 5, 2024. This is the first published opinion of the year and the fi...