Opinion ID: 715825
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The ALJ's Step-Two Determination

Text: 80 At step two of the five-step sequential inquiry, the Commissioner determines whether the claimant has a medically severe impairment or combination of impairments. Yuckert, 482 U.S. at 140-41, 107 S.Ct. at 2290-91. The Social Security Regulations and Rulings, as well as case law applying them, discuss the step two severity determination in terms of what is not severe. According to the Commissioner's regulations, an impairment is not severe if it does not significantly limit [the claimant's] physical ability to do basic work activities, 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.1520(c), 404.1521(a)(1991). Basic work activities are abilities and aptitudes necessary to do most jobs, including, for example, walking, standing, sitting, lifting, pushing, pulling, reaching, carrying or handling. 20 C.F.R. § 140.1521(b); Social Security Ruling 85-28 (SSR 85-28). 81 Important here, at the step two inquiry, is the requirement that the ALJ must consider the combined effect of all of the claimant's impairments on her ability to function, without regard to whether each alone was sufficiently severe. See 42 U.S.C. § 423(d)(2)(B)(Supp. III 1991); Social Security Ruling 868 (SSR 86-8). See also SSR 85-28. Also, he is required to consider the claimant's subjective symptoms, such as pain or fatigue, in determining severity. SSR 88-13; 20 C.F.R. § 404.1529(d)(2)(effective 11/14/91) (adopting SSR 88-13). Finally, the step-two inquiry is a de minimis screening device to dispose of groundless claims. Bowen v. Yuckert, 482 U.S. at 153-54, 107 S.Ct. at 2297-98. An impairment or combination of impairments can be found not severe only if the evidence establishes a slight abnormality that has no more than a minimal effect on an individuals ability to work. See SSR 85-28; Yuckert v. Bowen, 841 F.2d 303, 306 (9th Cir.1988)(adopting SSR 85-28). 82 In this case, the ALJ found Smolen to suffer from only one severe impairment, namely, a slight scoliosis which resulted in [Smolen's] self-described inability to walk more than 1/2 hour at a time or sit more than one hour at a time. In so finding, the ALJ ignored substantial and undisputed evidence of Smolen's other impairments and failed to consider how the combination of those impairments affected Smolen's ability to do basic work activities. Having improperly rejected the testimony of Smolen and her family regarding her fatigue and pain, the ALJ also failed to consider her subjective symptoms in making the severity determination. 83 As previously noted, the evidence in the record established that Smolen suffered loss of one kidney, loss of part of her left lung, changes in her remaining lung tissue, mild anemia, suppression of her bone marrow production, and spinal scoliosis. Undisputed evidence in the record supports that, as a result of these impairments, Smolen suffered severe fatigue and back pain. Those symptoms inhibited her ability to do basic work activities such as walking, standing, sitting, lifting and carrying. Smolen could not walk for more than one-half hour without stopping to rest for 10 or 15 minutes; she could not walk up and down one flight of stairs without becoming fatigued; she could not sit for more than one hour or stand for more than one-half hour without experiencing back pain and fatigue; and she became fatigued when sitting if she had to do strenuous activities such as typing or sewing. In previous jobs, Smolen had difficulty pushing a mail cart, carrying files, and carrying and lifting books for reshelving in a library. Because of these limitations, Smolen was either fired from or quit four different jobs. 84 This evidence establishes that the combination of Smolen's impairments constituted more than a slight abnormality that had no more than a minimal effect on her ability to do work; this is all that Smolen needed to show to prove severity at step two. See supra p. 1290. Thus, the ALJ's finding that Smolen suffered only one severe impairment--and, implicitly, that the combination of her other impairments was not severe--is not supported by substantial evidence. 85 Having found Smolen to suffer from only one severe impairment at step two, the ALJ necessarily failed to consider at step five how the combination of her other impairments--and resulting incapacitating fatigue--affected her residual functional capacity to perform work. See infra.