[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 230 (Friday, December 1, 2023)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 83877]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-26180]


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SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

20 CFR Part 416

[Docket No. SSA-2023-0024]
RIN 0960-AI83


Intermediate Improvement to the Disability Adjudication Process: 
Including How We Consider Past Work; Correction

AGENCY: Social Security Administration.

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking; correction.

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SUMMARY: On September 29, 2023, we published a proposed rule entitled 
Intermediate Improvement to the Disability Adjudication Process: 
Including How We Consider Past Work. The proposed rule inadvertently 
contained a sentence of regulatory text which should have been removed. 
We are publishing this document to correct the error.

DATES: December 1, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Mary Quatroche, Office of Disability Policy, Social Security 
Administration, 6401 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, Maryland 21235-
6401, or [email protected].
    For information on eligibility or filing for benefits, visit our 
internet site, Social Security Online, at https://www.socialsecurity.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  Mary Quatroche, Office of Disability 
Policy, Social Security Administration, 6401 Security Boulevard, 
Baltimore, Maryland 21235-6401, (410) 966-4794, or [email protected]. 
For information on eligibility or filing for benefits, call our 
national toll-free number, 1-800-772-1213, or TTY 1-800-325-0778, or 
visit our internet site, Social Security Online, at https://www.socialsecurity.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Correction

    We published a proposed rule, on September 29, 2023, (88 FR 67135). 
We propose revising the time period that we consider when determining 
whether an individual's past work is relevant for purposes of making 
disability determinations and decisions. That document inadvertently 
contained a sentence in proposed 20 CFR 416.965(a) on page 67148 in the 
2nd column, beginning at line 23, which read, ``The five-year guide is 
intended to ensure that remote work experience is not currently 
applied.'' This correction removes that sentence.

0
Correct Sec.  416.965(a) by removing the above sentence. The revised 
text to read as follows:


Sec.  416.965  Your work experience as a vocational factor. [Corrected]

    (a) General. Work experience means skills and abilities you have 
acquired through work you have done which show the type of work you may 
be expected to do. Work you have already been able to do shows the kind 
of work that you may be expected to do. We consider that your work 
experience applies when it was done within the last five years, lasted 
long enough for you to learn to do it, and was substantial gainful 
activity. We do not usually consider that work you did more than five 
years before the time we are deciding whether you are disabled applies. 
A gradual change occurs in most jobs so that after five years it is no 
longer realistic to expect that skills and abilities acquired in a job 
done then continue to apply. If you have no work experience or worked 
only ``off-and-on'' or for brief periods of time during the five-year 
period, we generally consider that these do not apply. If you have 
acquired skills through your past work, we consider you to have these 
work skills unless you cannot use them in other skilled or semi-skilled 
work that you can now do. If you cannot use your skills in other 
skilled or semi-skilled work, we will consider your work background the 
same as unskilled. However, even if you have no work experience, we may 
consider that you are able to do unskilled work because it requires 
little or no judgment and can be learned in a short period of time.
* * * * *

Faye I. Lipsky,
Federal Register Liaison, Office of Legislation and Congressional 
Affairs, Social Security Administration.
[FR Doc. 2023-26180 Filed 11-30-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4191-02-P