What the Forms?! How SSA Paperwork Silently Destroys Disability Claims

Welcome to Season 2, Episode 9 of Winning Isn't Easy: Navigating Your Social Security Disability Claim. In this episode, we'll dive into What the Forms?! How SSA Paperwork Silently Destroys Disability Claims.

If you’ve applied for Social Security Disability, you probably know the feeling: another thick envelope from the SSA filled with forms that seem to ask the same questions again and again. Many applicants assume the paperwork is routine, but some of these forms can quietly determine whether a claim is approved or denied. In this episode of Winning Isn’t Easy, we break down the disability questionnaires that often become the “silent killers” of a claim - and why stressing over them is actually a normal part of the process. We focus on two of the most important documents the SSA sends: the Function Report (SSA-3373) and the Work History Report (SSA-3369). These forms are designed to capture how your condition affects daily activities and what your past work actually required. But if the answers are vague, inconsistent, or incomplete, they can seriously undermine an otherwise valid disability claim. We also explain why the SSA sometimes sends similar forms more than once, including impairment questionnaires that appear later in the process. By the end of the episode, you’ll understand how these reports fit into the SSA’s evaluation, why consistency with your testimony matters, and how careful, accurate responses can protect your claim instead of quietly damaging it.

In this episode, we'll cover the following topics:

One - The "Function Report" (SSA-3373) and The "Work History Report" (SSA-3369)

Two - More on The "Work History Report" (SSA-3369) 

Three - Why the SSA Sends Forms Again — Impairment Questionnaires and Your Testimony

Whether you're a claimant, or simply seeking valuable insights into the disability claims landscape, this episode provides essential guidance to help you succeed in your journey. Don't miss it.


Listen to Our Sister Podcast:

We have a sister podcast - Winning Isn't Easy: Long-Term Disability ERISA Claims. Give it a listen: https://wiedisabilitypodcast.buzzsprout.com


Resources Mentioned In This Episode:

LINK TO YOUR RIGHTS TO SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY: https://mailchi.mp/caveylaw/your-rights-to-social-security-disability-benefits

FREE CONSULT LINK: https://caveylaw.com/contact-us/


Need Help Today?:

Need help with your Social Security Disability claim? Have questions? Please feel welcome to reach out to use for a FREE consultation. Just mention you listened to our podcast.

Review, like, and give us a thumbs up wherever you are listening to Winning Isn't Easy. We love to see your feedback about our podcast, and it helps us grow and improve.

Please remember that the content shared is for informational purposes only, and should not replace personalized legal advice or guidance from qualified professionals.

Transcript

Christy Monaco [00:00:11]:
 Today we're going to go over forms, which are the silent killers of a claim, and why losing your mind over a function report is actually perfectly normal and part of the process. Welcome back to Winning Isn't Easy Social Security Disability. The podcast where we break down everything you need to know about navigating the Social Security Disability system. I'm your host, Attorney Christy Monaco. Before we get started, I have to give you a legal disclaimer. This podcast is not legal advice. The Florida Bar says I have to say this, so I've said it. But nothing prevents me from giving you an easy-to-understand overview of the Social Security Disability claims process the games that are played during it, and what you need to know to get the disability benefits you deserve.
 
 Christy Monaco [00:00:57]:
 So off we go. If you've applied for disability, you know the feeling. You check the mail, there it is, another thick white or manila envelope from the Social Security Administration. You open it, it's the same questions you answered months ago. You feel like you're being gaslit by a government agency. Today we're going to talk about why they do this, so let's get started. We're going to talk about 3 things today. 1, the Function Report and the Work History Report.
 
 Christy Monaco [00:01:30]:
 2, more on the Work History Report. And 3, why Social Security Administration sends the forms again, impairment questionnaires, and the importance of your testimony. We're going to take a quick break before we really dive into this episode.
 
 Narrator of Disability Insurance Advertisements [00:01:49]:
 Are you considering filing for Social Security Disability, or has your claim been denied already? Either way, you require a copy of Your Rights to Social Security Disability Benefits, which will cover everything you need to know about the Social Security Disability claims process. Request your free copy of the book at kvlaw.com today.
 
 Christy Monaco [00:02:29]:
 Welcome back to Winning Isn't Easy. Let's dive in. The Function Report and the Work History Report. What the— what was that? Let me try that again. What the forms? I bet you're saying something else every time you get these forms in the mail. Believe me, I get these calls every day. I've already filled this out. They already have this information.
 
 Christy Monaco [00:02:54]:
 Well, I'm here to tell you the opposite of what you want to hear. I don't care if you've already filled it out. I want you to do it again, and in this episode, I'm going to tell you why. Start with the function report. This is the big one, the adult function report. 10 pages of what do you do from the time you wake up until the time you go to bed. Here's your WTF moment: they ask you if you can cook. You say, yeah, I can make pasta.
 
 Christy Monaco [00:03:24]:
 Well, here's the reality of that moment. In Social Security's eyes, if you can make pasta You could be a professional chef at a 5-star restaurant. So I'm here to tell you how to actually fill it out. We're going to start with the bad day rule. Never describe your best day. If you can only do the dishes once a week and it takes you 2 hours because of your low back pain, don't just check yes, you do the dishes. Explain the cost. Takes me 40 minutes.
 
 Christy Monaco [00:03:54]:
 I then have to go rest for 4 hours. The fatigue, the pain, the radiculopathy into my legs— whatever it is, you gotta put it on the form. Be specific. Don't just say, I'm tired. Say you have to nap for 3 hours after taking a shower because your fatigue is so severe. Say you walked to the mailbox and the pain was so bad that you had to lay down with your legs elevated for 3 hours. You want to make sure that you're specific on these forms because Social Security is not a mind reader. The who helps you clause— if your daughter helps you do the laundry because you can't carry the basket, write that down.
 
 Christy Monaco [00:04:37]:
 If your husband carries the basket down the stairs because you have difficulty climbing stairs, write that down. If you just say I do laundry, the Social Security Administration assumes you're hauling down 50-pound bags to the laundromat And if doing one load of laundry takes you 2 hours, you have to say that. Again, they're not mind readers, nor do they care to be. They're going to take what you say on these forms at face value without any follow-up. So you want to make sure that you're super specific in these activities of daily living that you're saying you can and cannot do and why. Social Security is rarely ever going to call you up and say 'Hey Bob, I saw that you can do laundry. Tell me about how long it takes you to do it and tell me about the symptoms that you get when you do it.' That's never going to happen. They're going to write in your file, 'Bob can do laundry,' and that's it, period.
 
 Christy Monaco [00:05:36]:
 Now you're likely going to get this form multiple times throughout the life of your claim. Again, if I'm your representative I'm saying I don't care, fill it out again. And here's why. Most conditions are progressive, which means your symptoms get worse or change. This means I want you to fill out this form even if you did it last year, even if you did it 6 months ago. We want to make sure that Social Security understands the progressive nature of your symptoms and your conditions. Remember, Social Security is going to 3 places to determine your functional capacity: your medical records, the forms you fill out, and your testimony if you make it to a hearing. So if you fail to return this form simply because you've already completed it and you don't want to do it, you've already hurt your case.
 
 Christy Monaco [00:06:33]:
 I tell people this every day. I don't care, you've already filled it out. Do do it again. I know it's a pain in the butt, I know it, but we have to understand Social Security is looking at these forms for a snapshot of your condition. The judge is looking at your forms to see the progressive nature of your symptoms, so they're very important that you fill them out. Let's move on to the work history report. They want to know every job you've had in the last 5 years. Here's your WTF moment.
 
 Christy Monaco [00:07:08]:
 They ask, did you use technical knowledge or skills? You want to say, I was a cashier, not a rocket scientist. But here's what they're really asking. They're trying to determine if you have any transferable skills, skills that you can take to other jobs that they're trying to prove that you can do. Here are the rules for that. Don't inflate your job. If you were a shift lead but all you did was flip burgers and occasionally tell someone when to take their break, don't make it sound like you were a CEO. If you make yourself sound like a high-level manager, Social Security is going to say, great, you can't stand anymore, but you can sit in a chair and manage people, right? You want to focus on the physical. Again, these forms are redundant.
 
 Christy Monaco [00:07:53]:
 These forms are long. Frankly, these forms are annoying., but they're important to the case. So when you're filling out a work history form about your past work and they ask you how much did you lift, don't just circle 10 pounds if you're lifting a case of paper, right? You want to put down how much you really lift, not what the job description says you lift. What did you actually do? If you lifted a 50-pound box once a day, that job is heavy, and you want to make sure that you're putting it down in your work history form Otherwise, Social Security won't know about it. As an attorney, I see people sink their own ships here because they want to sound like they were a great employee who had a lot of responsibility, or they simply don't want to fill out the form, so they rush through it, not putting any detail down. In a disability claim, overselling or not filling out your forms is a fast track to a denial. So we're going to take a quick break, then I'm really going to dive into the importance and the work history form. Welcome back to Winning Isn't Easy.
 
 Christy Monaco [00:09:10]:
 Let's dive a little deeper on the work history form. The past relevant work window. Social Security recently changed its rule and they're now looking at the work history you've done in the last 5 years. Here's what they want to know: What were your job duties? How much did you lift? How much did you stand, sit, reach? Did you supervise anybody? What tools or machines did you use? The goal here is they're trying to determine what your past relevant work was and whether or not you can still do it. If they decide you can't do your own job, then they're going to use this form to see if you have any transferable skills to a lighter, easier, and simpler job. So here's the physical exertion trap. This is where the math of your disability claim happens. The Social Security Administration categorizes jobs into 5 levels of exertion: sedentary, light, medium, heavy, and very heavy.
 
 Christy Monaco [00:10:15]:
 The mistake: You were a janitor, medium, but you write that you occasionally moved furniture or carried 60-pound bags of salt. Well, you just upgraded your job. If you can still lift 20 pounds, Social Security is going to say, well, you can't be a janitor anymore, but since you have light capabilities, we think you could be a ticket taker. Do you know what a ticket taker is? Me neither, but they're going to tell you that you could be one. Here's your transferable skills trap. Social Security Administration assigns every job something called an SVP, a specific vocational preparation level. Okay, unskilled is going to get an SVP of 1 to 2, and semi-skilled and skilled is going to be an SVP of 3 or more. What's the difference? Well, unskilled takes less than 30 days to learn.
 
 Christy Monaco [00:11:16]:
 What does that mean? 30 days of training, right? So an unskilled job, you get hired, you have a training period, that training period lasts 30 days or less. Semi-skilled or skilled is going to require a longer training period and specialized knowledge or judgment for that industry. Now, if you describe your job as a customer service lead and talk about how you manage schedules and solved complex technical issues and use proprietary software, Social Security sees skilled work in their minds. Even if your back is broken, they're gonna argue, well, yeah, but you have the mental skills to sit in a chair and do secretarial work. Now we want you to focus on the donkey work. Did you have to stand all day? Did you have to reach overhead? Do you have to constantly use your hands? These physical requirements are much harder for the Social Security Administration to transfer to a new job than your leadership skills. One of the big questions I get about this work history report is, why do they ask about supervising people? If you check yes to supervising others, the following questions are going to be: do you hire and fire people? Do you set people's pay? And if you are a shift supervisor but you spent 90% of your time at work stocking shelves and only 10% of people telling people when to take a break, write that down. If you don't, they're going to classify you as a manager, which is a sedentary skilled job that is almost impossible to get disability benefits if your brain still functions.
 
 Christy Monaco [00:13:00]:
 So again, being really specific on these forms is really important. They send these for a reason. Social Security does a lot of things that we believe are for no reason at all, but these forms are not one of them. So here's a summary checklist for the work history report. Don't inflate. Be honest. But don't brag. Lifting matters.
 
 Christy Monaco [00:13:23]:
 Be very precise about the heaviest thing that you've lifted and how often you're lifting it. The 6-hour rule. If you were on your feet 7 out of 8 hours, emphasize that because most sedentary jobs require you to sit for at least 6 hours. And tools versus skills. List things like used a hammer is safer than listing expert in construction project management software. And I want to elaborate a little bit more about the tools. I review these forms every day from our clients, and I will read something like, um, I was a front desk receptionist, and it asks what tools or equipment they used, and it says none. Well, I call the client and I say, did you use a computer? Yes.
 
 Christy Monaco [00:14:16]:
 That's a tool or an equipment. Did you use a scanner? Yes. A fax machine? Yes. A telephone? Yes. Okay, I just listed 5. So when we're talking about equipment tools, we really want to think about anything that you're using within that job, right? Because remember, we're using this to eliminate your ability to do your past relevant work and other work in the national economy. So we want to be detailed. Okay, I threw a lot at you, so let's take a break.
 
 Narrator of Disability Insurance Advertisements [00:14:46]:
 Struggling with your Social Security Disability case? The right attorney can make all the difference. Get our booklet, The Key to Hiring a Great Attorney for Your Social Security Disability Case. Discover how to find an experienced attorney who will fight for your rights and navigate the process with ease. Don't leave your future to chance. Request your free copy at kvlaw.com today and ensure you have the expert support you deserve.
 
 Christy Monaco [00:15:30]:
 Welcome back to Winning Isn't Easy. So now let's talk about why the Social Security Administration sends these forms again, impairment questionnaires, and the importance of your testimony. Why are they sending this form again? This is the part that makes people wanna throw their mailbox into a river. You filled out a Function Report at the initial level, now you're at the reconsideration stage and they send it again? What the forms? Here's the reason. We talked about it earlier. They need a snapshot. They want to know, over the last year, has your condition gotten worse? If your answers are exactly the same word for word, they might think you're just copying and not actually struggling. Typically, when a client calls me and they say, I just filled out this form a year ago, I'm not filling it out again, you already know my answer.
 
 Christy Monaco [00:16:22]:
 I don't care that you already filled it out. We're going to fill it out again. They push back and I say, tell me, have your migraines gotten worse? Well, yeah, I just told you that last week. Okay, how about your back pain? Still, still hold— keeping you up? Yeah, actually it's been really bad the last 4 months. And I simply explain, Social Security doesn't know that, and this is how they find that out. And once I kind of make that connection with the clients, they understand Okay, I need to fill this out. So here I am making that connection to you. We want to make sure that we're letting Social Security know, snapshot of time, what's going on.
 
 Christy Monaco [00:17:01]:
 The progression from the last function report to this function report, right, should be corroborated with the medical records complaints. Your medical records are going to show an increase in symptoms, so should your function report. So keep that in mind. Now let's talk about the consistency test. This is another reason why Social Security sends these forms so often. They're looking for gotchas. If you said you couldn't walk in March, but then in October you say you go for walks in the park, they're going to use that to deny you. So you want to make sure that your forms are consistent and truthful and honest and corroborated by your medical records.
 
 Christy Monaco [00:17:38]:
 But most importantly, you want to make sure you complete them and send them back. Here's my tip: Keep copies of everything. When the second form comes, take a look at the first one. Sometimes it's a year in between forms and you wanna make sure you're not contradicting yourself, but that you do update it if your symptoms have gotten worse. All right, I've talked your ear off about these forms, but I'm not done. Let's move on to the impairment questionnaires. Typically, Social Security is gonna send you an impairment questionnaire, which is gonna be based off the specific condition that you suffer from. This is going to be a specific questionnaire with specific questions directly related to your symptoms.
 
 Christy Monaco [00:18:18]:
 For example, some of the most common forms that we receive: pain questionnaires, cardiac questionnaires, vision questionnaires, headache questionnaires. I'm going to touch a little bit on the most common one today, the pain questionnaire. Some of the questions are going to include: describe where the pain is located, Don't just say your back. Say my low back and it radiates into my, my lower extremities or my legs, right? Be detailed. Describe your pain. Don't just say bad. Say it's dull, it's aching, it's burning, it's stabbing, it's sharp, it's frequent, it's constant, right? How often do you have pain? Don't just say all the time, even though that may be. You want to make sure that you're really letting Social Security know, right? I wake up in pain, I take my meds, it subsides a little.
 
 Christy Monaco [00:19:12]:
 3 hours later, I'm in pain again. I take more meds, I do what I have to do. I lay down, I relax, I'm sitting in a chair in a zero gravity position. Whatever it is you're doing to relieve that pain better be on this form. What restrictions do you have because of your pain? Please don't just say you can't work. That is not a restriction. Let's be specific. I can't sit for longer than an hour.
 
 Christy Monaco [00:19:38]:
 If I sit for longer than an hour, I have to stand for an hour. I can't use my hands in an outward position for longer than 10 minutes at a time. I can't grip things with my fingers. I have a headache, so I can't look at a computer screen. Those are restrictions. Those are the types of things Social Security is looking for. So believe me, I know, I know, I know these forms are annoying. But we have to fill them out.
 
 Christy Monaco [00:20:01]:
 They will help your claim. Here's your WTF moment: why are they asking all of these questions? Well, pain is subjective. Headaches are subjective. Subjective means you report it to your doctor, your doctor documents it, but there's not specific testing that can prove how much pain you're in. Right? They can't establish the nature, the duration, or the location of your pain. Now, if you have degenerative disc disease in your low back, we can have an MRI that shows that, but the MRI doesn't show that you're in a constant level of 10, right, in your pain. It doesn't always show that you have radiation down into your legs. That doesn't show that you have to lay down with your feet up in order to take pressure off your low back.
 
 Christy Monaco [00:20:51]:
 Right, subjective. Social Security is asking these questions in order to determine what your restrictions and limitations are. In theory, these answers should cooperate with the complaints in your medical records. So the next time you open that envelope and you say, what the forms, just remember these papers you're filling out are your testimony. They're your chance to tell the Social Security Administration and the judge what your life really looks like when your doctors aren't watching. I have this conversation every day. We see our doctors once every 3, 4 weeks, once every 3 months. A lot of time goes in between those medical appointments, and a lot of us go to the doctor and we say, how are we doing? Well, I have a headache today.
 
 Christy Monaco [00:21:44]:
 Well, you just omitted the last 3 weeks and what you went through. That's where these forms come in, right? Social Security is asking you, since the last time you completed this form, what's changed? And that's why we want to spend the time on these forms. Don't rush them, don't lie, and for heaven's sake, fill them out. If you were fine, we wouldn't be here. Be detailed in answering these questions. They are used in the determination of your claim. Pop quiz: what are the 3 places Social Security is going to determine this claim? Just kidding, no tests in this episode. It's your medical records, these forms, and your testimony.
 
 Christy Monaco [00:22:25]:
 So we want to make sure when we get these in the mail— you can scream, what the forms?— but make sure you fill them out. Until next time, keep your pens sharp and your medical records organized. That's it for today's episode of Winning Isn't Easy. If you found this episode helpful, please take a moment to like our page, leave a review, and share it with your friends and family. Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast so you'll be notified whenever a new episode drops. And we'd also really love to hear from you. At the beginning of each episode description, you'll find a link where you can send us your questions and comments. We may even feature them in a future episode.
 
 Christy Monaco [00:23:02]:
 So join us next week for another insightful discussion. I hope to see you there, and thanks for listening.