Medical-Vocational Grid Rules

The Medical-Vocational Guidelines, commonly called the grid rules, are tables SSA uses at step five to decide whether a claimant who cannot do past work can adjust to other work. The grids cross-reference four factors: age, education, previous work experience and skill transferability, and residual functional capacity at the sedentary, light, medium, or heavy exertional level.

The rules become significantly more favorable at age 50 and again at 55, when SSA assumes adjusting to new work is harder. For example, a 55-year-old limited to light work with no transferable skills is generally found disabled, while a 45-year-old with the same limits is usually denied. The grids apply directly only to exertional limits; non-exertional limits are handled case by case.