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CCH® UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE — 7/24/14

Record of claimant with intellectual disability “not fully developed,” says Eighth Circuit

A claimant will be deemed intellectually disabled pursuant to Listing §12.05B when she has a valid verbal, performance, or full scale IQ score of 59 or less. Here, the claimant received a full scale IQ score of 56 when she was 13 years old. In 2006, the claimant received a performance IQ score of 59 when she was retested at age 19 or 20. Despite the claimant’s IQ scores, the ALJ found that her reduced mental function did not meet or equal a listed impairment presumed severe enough to preclude gainful employment. In seeking reversal, the claimant argued that the ALJ did not properly consider her intellectual disability. The appellate court agreed. An ALJ may disregard intelligence test scores if they are inconsistent with a claimant’s activities as set forth in the record. Indeed, a consulting physician stated that the claimant would be able to perform work where interpersonal activities would be incidental to the job, the tasks would be performed by rote, and the supervision required would be simple and direct. The court also noted that there was no evidence in the record that the claimant was scheduled for further testing, aside from the ALJ’s statement in his decision, and nothing in the record reflecting that the claimant was informed of the additional testing. Given the nature of her disability, the record should have indicated that the claimant and her counsel were notified. Due to the lack of notice and sufficient evidence of the claimant’s disability in the record, the court could not conclude that it was fully developed. Thus, the decision denying benefits was reversed and the case was remanded for further development of the record regarding the claimant’s mental impairments (Felecia Channell v. Commr., CA-8, No. 13-2533, June 25, 2014).