Source: https://www.jameseducationcenter.com/articles/changing-disabled-date/
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 00:48:01+00:00

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Was the last job an unsuccessful work attempt or not substantial gainful activity?
As you are interviewing the claimant, think through the case following the sequential evaluation process, looking for problems and opportunities. Begin with an analysis of issues surrounding the “onset date,” the date the claimant became disabled.
was an unsuccessful work attempt (20 C.F.R. §404.1574(c)).
If work was not substantial gainful activity or was an unsuccessful work attempt (see §176.2), you may be able to push the onset date back to the time before the claimant did such work.
Work lasting up to six months, which the claimant had to stop because of an impairment, may qualify as an unsuccessful work attempt. Even a series of unsuccessful work attempts may occur after the onset date. Earnings during unsuccessful work attempts will not be considered in determining whether or not work is substantial gainful activity (SGA). See 20 C.F.R. §§404.1574(a)(1) and 404.1574(c). See also Social Security Ruling 05-02. Where your client’s last employment meets this description, the onset date may be moved back to a point before the unsuccessful work effort.
20 C.F.R. §404.1574(c), which applies to employees, provides specific requirements for a work effort to qualify as an unsuccessful work attempt. 20 C.F.R. §404.1575(d) provides the requirements for finding that a self-employed claimant’s work is an unsuccessful work attempt. The two regulations are similar.
Work was reduced so much that it no longer constituted substantial gainful activity (SGA).
Once this threshold requirement is met, different rules apply for unsuccessful work attempts lasting up to three months (20 C.F.R. §§404.1574(c)(3) and 404.1575(d)(3)) and those lasting from three to six months. 20 C.F.R. §§404.1574(c)(4) and 404.1575(d)(4).
Special conditions exist, for example, where a claimant receives assistance from other employees in order to do a job. If, for one reason or another, other employees no longer are available to help the claimant do the job, the special conditions related to the impairment (help from other employees) would be removed. Thus, the claimant must quit work. 20 C.F.R. §§404.1574(c)(3), 404.1575(d)(3) and 404.1573(c), and SSR 05-02.
Work must have been done under special conditions.
20 C.F.R. §§404.1574(c)(4) and 404.1575(d)(4).
SSR 05-02 and 20 C.F.R. §404.1573(c) contain specific examples of “special conditions,” which may be any accommodation of the impairment, or an unusual job opportunity such as a sheltered workshop or job made available for an altruistic reason, whether by a family member or anyone else.
According to 20 C.F.R. §§404.1574(c)(5), 404.1575(d)(5) and Social Security Ruling 05-02, work that constitutes substantial gainful activity lasting more than six months cannot qualify as an unsuccessful work attempt no matter why it ended. Nevertheless, there can be a string of unsuccessful work attempts spread over a period of time much longer than six months. Whenever a claimant is off work for 30 days, changes to an easier job (either with the same employer or a different employer), or has a period of time where work is at less than SGA level, examine the work efforts after this time to determine if they can be characterized as unsuccessful work attempts.
A form for gathering information from an employer appears at §216.1. This form may be used to show that your client’s work of more than three months, but less than six months, qualifies as an unsuccessful work attempt.

References: §404
 §176
 §404
 §404
 §404
 §216