Barnes v. Berryhill, No. 16-35815 (9th Cir. 2018)
Annotate this CaseThe Ninth Circuit reversed the denial of disability insurance benefits and supplemental security income to plaintiff. The panel held that SR 82-41 obligates the ALJ to make transferability of skills findings where, unlike Bray v. Commissioner of Social Security Administration, 554 F.3d 1219, 1223–26 (9th Cir. 2009), no Grid rule states that a person with the claimant's age, education, and work experience is disabled absent transferable skills. Therefore, the panel remanded for further proceedings.
Court Description: Social Security The panel reversed the district court’s judgment affirming the Commissioner of Social Security’s denial of an application for disability insurance benefits and supplemental security income under the Social Security Act, and remanded for further proceedings. The panel held that the administrative law judge’s (“ALJ”) failure to make written findings regarding transferability of skills, required by Social Security Ruling 82-41, prevented the panel from determining whether substantial evidence supported the ALJ’s determination at Step Five of the sequential evaluation process that claimant was able to perform other work and therefore was not disabled under the Act. The panel held that neither the ALJ nor the vocational expert stated what skills, if any, claimant had acquired from his past work and whether those skills were transferable to the semi-skilled jobs identified by the vocational expert. The panel concluded that SSR 82-41 obligated the ALJ to make transferability of skills findings.
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