Incapacity Determination - PEP Step VII

Created on: 
Oct 21 2014

Evaluating a Client's Capacity to Perform Relevant Past Work

WAC 388-447-0090 Progressive evaluation process step VII - How does the department determine ability to perform past work?

Worker Responsibilities

  1. Enter the age rounded to the nearest full year.
  2. Enter each job from the Social Service Intake, or other available source, considered to be relevant past work.
  3. Use O*NET to get exertion and skill levels for the jobs the client has held.  According to the Department of Labor, O*Net has replaced the Dictionary of Occupational Titles.
  4. Compare the physical and mental requirements for each job with the person's current functional abilities, as identified in Steps V and VI.  If mental or non-exertional physical limitations prevent an individual from performing a job they were formerly capable of doing, indicate that the person cannot do this job and document the specific reason.
    EXAMPLE: A client is advised not to work in high places because of a seizure disorder.  This would prevent the client from returning to past work as a roofer, but the client could perform past work as a retail clerk.
  5. Deny incapacity when a person has recently completed a vocational training or gained work skills that they can currently use to perform a job.
  6. Deny incapacity when a person is able to do relevant past work performed within the past 5 years.
  7. Approve incapacity when a person is 55 years old or older and is unable to perform relevant past work, or has no relevant past work.