Opinion ID: 729912
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: ALJ's Refusal to Account for Work-Week Limitation in Reporting Available Jobs

Text: 31 Although there appears to be substantial evidence to support the ALJ's decision that Plaintiff's Somatoform Disorder is not so severe as to render Plaintiff disabled within the meaning of the Act, the ALJ's finding concerning the number of available jobs for Plaintiff failed to account for the fact that both the ME and Dr. Hague opined that Plaintiff's present ability to work a normal work week was Poor to None. The ME opined that Plaintiff could obtain a Fair ability to complete a normal work week, only after a transitional period, acknowledged to be, perhaps, a year long. When stating the number of available jobs existing for someone like the Plaintiff, the ALJ relied upon the VE's figures that corresponded to the first hypothetical which did not account for the work-week limitation. The Commissioner contends that this misstatement or omission in the ALJ's report is without consequence, pointing out that [n]o princple of administrative law or common sense requires [this court] to remand a case in quest of a perfect opinion. (Def.'s Br. at 32 n. 8) (citing Fisher v. Bowen, 869 F.2d 1055, 1057 (7th Cir.1989)). We may remand, however, if an omission demonstrates the existence of an inadequate and illogical bridge between the evidence (the uncontradicted work-week limitation) and the result (the number of existing jobs reported by the ALJ to be available to Plaintiff). See Sarchet, 78 F.3d at 306. Notably, the VE also testified that even with a work-week limitation that a substantial number of jobs still would exist in the form of part-time employment in the job categories previously mentioned. (R. at 340-41.) Hence, viewing the record as a whole, we conclude that a remand is unnecessary because substantial evidence exists (in the Administrative Record though not in the ALJ's decision itself) supporting the ALJ's decision that Plaintiff could still perform a significant number of jobs existing in the national economy. According, we AFFIRM the decision of the district court finding that substantial evidence supports the ALJ's decision that Plaintiff is not disabled within the meaning of the Act.