Disability Doc

Question: Does a Teacher, Secondary school, 091.227-010 have transferable skills to sedentary jobs after age 49?

Answer: In general, an individual aged 55 or older would not be expected to have transferable skills from this work. Occupations utilizing secondary clerical skills are not closely related enough to offset advanced age, unless an individual had obtained specific clerical skills in the performance of their job duties. Most likely these skills would come from additional duties not usually associated with the normal duties of teaching. In order to make this determination it is imperative that a detailed description of the individual teacher’s work is obtained.

This is even more important when the individual is aged 50 to 54. Other work does not have to be as closely related to teaching for this age group and skills obtained from teaching are more likely to transfer to clerical occupations. Carefully consider what duties were actually performed and make a judgment of transferable skills on a case by case basis. A clear explanation of the judgment being made is crucial.

Reference: 20 CFR , Appendix 2 to Subpart P of Part 404, Section 201.00 (f and g), DI 25025.005, SSR 82-41.