SSA-3369 Work History Report: How to Complete It Accurately

What Is the SSA-3369 Work History Report?

The SSA-3369, formally titled the Work History Report, is a form that documents your employment history for the 15 years before the onset of your disability. SSA uses this information to identify your past relevant work — the jobs you held that are significant enough to factor into the disability evaluation.

Specifically, SSA uses the SSA-3369 to determine: What kind of work have you done? How physically demanding was it? What skills did you use? And critically — could you still do any of those jobs given your current physical and mental limitations?

The 15-Year Lookback Period

SSA only considers work performed within the 15 years before your alleged onset date (the date you claim your disability began). This is called the 15-year lookback period. Work performed before that window is not considered past relevant work, regardless of how demanding or significant it was.

For a job to qualify as past relevant work, it must also:

• Have been performed at SGA level (earnings above the Substantial Gainful Activity threshold for that year)
• Have lasted long enough for you to learn the job (typically more than a few weeks)

This means that very short-term jobs, jobs well below SGA earnings, or jobs performed more than 15 years ago generally do not count as past relevant work — and you are not required to list them. When in doubt, list the job anyway and let SSA determine whether it qualifies.

What Information the SSA-3369 Asks For

For each job in your work history, the SSA-3369 collects:

• Job title — what you called the position
• Employer name and address
• Dates worked — start and end month/year
• Hours worked per day and days per week
• Rate of pay — hourly, weekly, or monthly
• Job duties — a detailed description of what you actually did
• Physical demands — lifting/carrying (how much and how often), standing, walking, sitting (hours per day), climbing, stooping, kneeling, crouching, crawling, reaching, handling objects
• Machines, tools, and equipment used
• Technical knowledge or skills used
• Writing, completing reports — clerical/computer work
• Supervisory responsibilities

The Exertion Classification System

SSA classifies jobs by exertion level using the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT), a federal reference that defines job requirements. The five exertion levels are:

If your past job is classified as "light" but you describe it as requiring frequent lifting of 30+ pounds, SSA's vocational expert may reconsider the classification — and your Residual Functional Capacity (RFC) may prevent you from returning to a "medium" job even if SSA initially thought the job was lighter.

Describing Your Job As You Actually Did It

This is the single most important instruction for completing the SSA-3369: describe the job as you actually performed it, not as it is generally performed in the national economy or as described in the DOT.

For example, a "cashier" position at a DOT level might be classified as "light" work. But if your specific cashier job required you to unload delivery trucks, stock shelves with items weighing 40–50 pounds, and stand for 8-hour shifts with no accommodation — that is how you must describe it. SSA must consider both the DOT classification and the job as you actually did it.

Common Mistakes on the SSA-3369

These errors are among the most frequent — and damaging — on the Work History Report:

1. Understating physical demands — saying you lifted "light items" when you actually lifted 25–50 lb boxes regularly; this is the most common and most damaging mistake
2. Being too vague about job duties — "I was a manager" tells SSA almost nothing; describe what managing actually required day to day
3. Listing jobs in the wrong order — complete the form chronologically with the most recent jobs first
4. Wrong dates — estimated dates are fine, but dates that conflict with your earnings record will raise questions
5. Omitting jobs — if you're unsure whether a job qualifies, include it; omitting a job that SSA finds in your earnings record can look evasive
6. Copying the DOT description instead of describing your personal experience in that role

How SSA Uses the SSA-3369 at Your Hearing

At an ALJ (Administrative Law Judge) hearing, your work history plays a central role. The ALJ will call a Vocational Expert (VE) — a specialist in occupational classification — to testify about your past work. The VE will:

• Classify each past job by exertion level and skill level (DOT title, SVP code)
• Identify whether your past jobs are sedentary, light, medium, heavy, or very heavy
• Testify whether a person with your Residual Functional Capacity (RFC) could perform your past relevant work as generally performed or as you specifically did it

Your attorney or representative may cross-examine the VE if the job classification doesn't match what you described on the SSA-3369 or in your testimony. This is one reason why detailed, accurate descriptions on the form are so valuable — they form the foundation of the vocational testimony.

Skill Level and Past Relevant Work

In addition to exertion level, SSA also looks at the skill level of your past work:

• Unskilled work — simple, routine tasks (SVP 1–2); skills rarely transfer
• Semi-skilled work — some complexity, learned in a few months (SVP 3–4)
• Skilled work — complex tasks requiring significant training/experience (SVP 5–9)

The skill level of your past work matters at Step 5 of the evaluation, where SSA considers whether your skills could transfer to other types of work. If all your past work was unskilled, transferable skills are less of a factor. Be accurate about the skills your jobs actually required.

Getting Help With the SSA-3369

Because of its strategic importance, many disability attorneys and advocates review the SSA-3369 with clients before submission. If you are working with a representative, share a draft with them before mailing it to SSA. They can identify descriptions that might hurt your claim and help you articulate physical demands more precisely.

If you're completing the form on your own, take your time — don't rush through it. A poorly completed SSA-3369 can lead to an incorrect job classification that costs you your case. The vocational analysis at Step 4 is often the deciding factor in borderline claims.