Attorney and non-attorney claimant representatives are increasingly finding SkillTRAN products to be quite useful in discerning and confirming expert testimony. Claimant reps in Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and Veteran Disability venues are now able to quickly call up the work history and alternative occupations coding used by SSA and Vocational Experts, before, during, and after the hearings. Claimant reps are able to ask much better questions of the Vocational Expert (VE) during hearings and to confirm the proper citation of residual occupations for the specific stated hypothetical. Pre-hearing, it is possible to anticipate what a VE might cite during a hearing and prepare for focused questions on estimated employment numbers for those DOT occupations at the National, State, and Local level. Post-hearing, it is possible to quickly submit supporting information to counter various parts of the vocational testimony, complete with bluebook format source citations. As proficiency using the tools increases, pre-screening claims can help to minimize the frequency of less "winnable" cases.
SSA administrative law judges (ALJ) have access to several SkillTRAN products in their digital electronic libary. The Chief ALJ recognizes these software products as "acceptable electronic versions of the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT)". Attorney Peter J. LeMoine (formerly an ALJ) reviews various resources used in SSA adjudication. He noted: "Job Browser Pro employs what this writer believes to be reasonably scientific methodology to provide regional and national job numbers on a DOT level."
SkillTRAN software can help you win more awards in a variety of ways. We diligently adhere to the 20 CFR 404.1658(d) definition for transferability of skills. It is an excellent definition around which we have based our steady software evolution since the early 1980s. We supplement our software with current, authoritative public data sources for information about wages, employment numbers, and outlook. We developed a unique methodology (Job Browser Pro) to tackle the problematic issue of estimating employment numbers at the DOT level.
