How Do Disability Insurers Assess Sedentary Job Capabilities?

A recent visitor to our site posted this helpful question:

If my pre-disability job was sedentary and required primarily sitting, will the disability insurance company suggest an alternative sedentary job that I should be able to perform? Can you share your thoughts on how insurance companies approach this?

When it comes to sedentary occupations I agree that it does not make sense to locate another sedentary type job, but this is exactly what the companies do. Insurance companies look at sedentary claims in a vacuum and try to make it as if the job requires nothing more than sitting in chair and starring at the wall the day. We appealed and won a long term disability claim against Hartford where the own occupation period was a sedentary position of sales and then when it switched to any occupation The Hartford decided the claimant could perform any occupation. This claimant used to make $100,000 annually. Ridiculous, she was disabled from a sedentary occupation before, why would it change now?

When or long term disability attorneys handle sedentary long term disability claims we don’t focus on the ability to sit in a chair for 6 hours or lift something up to 5 pounds. It is essential to focus on the pain and cognitive limitations that prevent a claimant from committing to any job that requires the person to be at work 5 days a week during set hours. A person with a disabling condition that cannot control how they feel from one minute to the next cannot commit to any job. Nobody wants to hire and attempt to count on an unreliable employee that cannot commit to a work schedule.