Do not consider past work at step four unless it is relevant. Past work is relevant if it meets all four requirements listed below.

The work must have:

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  been performed within the relevant period (recency);

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  not started and stopped in fewer than 30 calendar days (30 calendar days);

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  lasted long enough for the claimant to learn to do it (long enough to learn); and

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  been substantial gainful activity (SGA).

Generally, to be relevant, the claimant's past work must have been performed within the five years prior to the date of adjudication (the date of the determination or decision at any level of review). However, for some Title II claims, the relevant period may end prior to the date of adjudication (see "relevant work period" in DI 25001.001A.66).

NOTE: When determining the relevant period for a concurrent Title II or Title II and Title XVI claim, the relevant periods and the step four determinations for each claim may differ if the Title II relevant period ended prior to adjudication.

When determining whether work is within the relevant period, consider the relevant period to begin five years prior to its ending date (e.g., if the relevant period ended 12/20/2024, it began on 12/21/2019).

IMPORTANT: When setting the established onset date (EOD) in an allowed claim, do not consider the date on which work was no longer in the relevant time period. If there is no past relevant work (PRW) at the time of adjudication, onset may be established as early as the claimant was no longer performing SGA due to a disabling impairment.

EXAMPLE: A 60-year-old claimant with a high school education filed a DIB claim alleging onset on 10/30/2021. The claimant performed an SGA-level, unskilled job from 12/1/2016 to 10/30/2021. The physical and mental requirements of this work are within the claimant's residual functional capacity (RFC). All the other work required greater lifting and carrying than the RFC allowed. The date of adjudication is 7/10/2027 and the claimant has a future date last insured (DLI) of 9/30/2027. The claimant has a prior denial dated 6/7/2024 for ability to do the PRW the claimant performed from 12/1/2016 to 10/30/2021.

Summary of case facts:

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  Potential onset date (POD): 10/30/2021

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  DLI: 09/30/2027

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  Prior finding: On 6/7/2024, denial for ability to do PRW performed from 12/1/2016 to 10/30/2021

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  Current claim adjudication date: 7/10/2027

Based on an adjudication date of 7/10/2027 and future DLI of 9/30/2027, the relevant period in the current claim is 7/11/2022 to 7/10/2027, the five years prior to the date of adjudication. The job that is within the claimant's RFC would not be within the relevant period because the work ended 10/30/2021, more than five years prior to the 7/10/2027 date of adjudication. Therefore, the claimant had no PRW within the RFC at the time of the 7/10/2027 adjudication.

The adjudicator proceeded to step five of sequential evaluation. An allowance was appropriate based on the medical-vocational rules. The claimant met the disability requirements as of the claimant's POD; however, it was not possible to reopen the prior denial determination of 6/7/2024 because that determination was appropriate based on an ability to perform PRW. The adjudicator awarded an EOD as of 10/30/2021, setting onset in the prior period, because we cannot reopen a correct prior determination under the rules of administrative finality (see DI 27505.001).

IMPORTANT: If any portion of the period when the claimant performed past work extends into the relevant five-year period, the work is in the relevant period. If the work meets the other criteria for PRW, consider it to be relevant.

EXAMPLE: The claimant worked as a cashier from 1/20/2006 to 12/10/2020. If the Disability Determination Services (DDS) adjudicates the case on 11/20/2025 and the claimant has a future DLI, the claimant's cashier work is within the relevant period because a portion of the period of performance is within the five-year period prior to the 11/20/2025 adjudication date.

REMINDER: A claim cannot be denied based on the claimant’s capacity to perform PRW for any period of time before that work was actually performed.

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  When we consider PRW and work experience, “30 calendar days” means a period of 30 consecutive days, including weekends, starting from the first day of work.

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  When we consider whether work lasted 30 calendar days, we do not consider the total number of hours or days worked during that period, or whether the work was full-time or part-time.

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  The 30-day-minimum requirement is separate from the consideration of SGA or whether the claimant worked long enough to learn how to do the work, although the 30 calendar days may count toward the time needed for the claimant to learn to do the work.

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  If the claimant was self-employed or an independent contractor, we will consider whether the claimant was engaged in the same type of work for 30 calendar days, even if individual work assignments or contracts each lasted fewer than 30 calendar days.

EXAMPLE: On 3/1/2023, the claimant began working a job that requires only a brief demonstration to learn. The claimant's last day of work was 3/30/2023. The claimant worked at the job for 30 days because the work started on 3/1/2023, and the last day of work was on 3/30/2023. In this situation, the job would qualify as PRW if it was performed at the SGA level and during the five-year relevant work period.

EXAMPLE: On 2/1/2023, a claimant began working a job that requires only a brief demonstration to learn. The claimant's last day of work was 2/28/2023. Although the claimant held the job long enough to learn to do it, the work started and stopped in fewer than 30 calendar days. In this situation, the job would not qualify as PRW, even if it was performed at the SGA level and during the five-year relevant work period.

EXAMPLE: If a claimant completed 20 different shopping trips for a grocery delivery service over a 30 calendar day period, we would still require the claimant to report that work experience as a single gig delivery job, because the claimant did the same job for the 30 calendar days. This is true even though each individual shopping trip started and stopped within the 30 calendar days period. If the work was SGA, this job would be PRW.

Find that work lasted long enough for the claimant to learn the job if the claimant:

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  learned the techniques,

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  acquired the information, and

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  developed the facility needed for average performance of the job.

The length of time this would take depends on the nature and complexity of the work.

Consider the history the claimant provides when determining whether the claimant did the work long enough to learn the job.

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  Use specific vocational preparation (SVP) information only as a guideline to help determine how long it would generally take to learn a particular job.

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  SVP may not accurately reflect the requirements of the job as the claimant performed it.

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  Particularly when the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) indicates a high SVP level for a job, consider the length of time the claimant did the job and the claimant's education when determining whether the work lasted long enough to be relevant.

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  For information on using SVP levels to assist with an analysis of past work relevance, see SVP information in DI 25001.001A.78.

If the claimant performed work that had a continuity of skills, knowledge, and work processes with another job, consider that work when determining whether the claimant did the work long enough to learn it, even if the work was outside the relevant period.

EXAMPLE: The claimant worked from 1/2/2008 to 12/20/2019 as a machinist. Beginning 12/21/2019, the claimant became a lead machinist. The claimant did this job until 2/1/2021. The adjudication date for the claim was 1/1/2025, at which time the machinist job was no longer relevant. However, the lead machinist job was still in the relevant period. Although a little over one year may not have been long enough to learn the job of lead machinist, there was a continuity of skills from the claimant's previous work such that the claimant may have done the lead machinist work long enough to have learned the job.

Although primary responsibility for development of work activity that affects the POD lies with the field office (FO), the DDS will need to determine whether work before onset was SGA to determine whether past work is relevant.

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  In most cases, the DDS can determine whether past work performed as an employee was SGA without contacting the FO and can document that determination with a brief statement in the rationale.

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  In other cases, when complex SGA issues (e.g., subsidies) are material to the disability determination, the DDS contacts the FO for assistance.

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  However, in many cases, using the Expedited Vocational Assessment at steps four and five will make it unnecessary to determine whether work performed before the POD qualifies as PRW.

For more information about:

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  the expedited vocational assessment, see DI 25005.005.

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  SGA issues involving subsidies or self-employment, see DI 25005.015E.2 in this section.

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  special development situations in the FO, see DI 10501.020.

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  electronic assistance requests, see DI 81020.100.

NOTE: The instructions in DI 24001.005A and DI 10505.003B apply to developing work activity that might affect the POD. In general, those instructions cannot apply to determining whether past work met the SGA requirement for relevancy purposes. The DDS has primary responsibility for making such determinations on past work.

Do not consider the following types of work relevant:

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  Volunteer work (meaning the claimant did not receive any pay or in-kind support for the work);

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  Work that meets the requirements for an unsuccessful work attempt (UWA) (see DI 24005.001);

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  Illegal work (work that was criminal activity), even if it resulted in SGA-level earnings;

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  When adjudicating a continuing disability review (CDR) case, work in the current period of disability (see DI 28005.015); or

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  Work in a previous period of disability, if the claimant is applying for expedited reinstatement (see DI 28057.015).

NOTE: Work performed during a previous period of disability, even work performed under trial work period (TWP), extended period of eligibility (EPE), or 1619 provisions could be relevant work for a new application but not an expedited reinstatement (EXR) determination.

Decide whether any of the following types of work are relevant by determining whether the work was in the relevant period, whether the work was at SGA level, whether the work started and stopped in fewer than 30 calendar days, and whether the claimant did it long enough to learn it:

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  Part-time work,

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  Seasonal work,

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  Work performed in a foreign country, or

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  Work in a previous period of disability, unless the claimant is applying for EXR.

NOTE: If the claimant is filing a new claim and applying for EXR, the work in the previous period of disability may be relevant for only the new claim and not for the EXR.