MARK J. DINSMORE, Magistrate Judge.
Darla J. Bock ("Bock") requests judicial review of the final decision of the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration ("Commissioner") denying her application for Disability Insurance Benefits ("DIB") under Title XVI of the Social Security Act ("the Act"). See 42 U.S.C. §§ 416(i), 423(d), 1382c(a)(3)(A). For the reasons set forth below, the Commissioner's decision is
Bock filed an application for DIB on April 19, 2013, alleging an onset of disability date of December 10, 2012. [
To be eligible for DIB or SSI, a claimant must have a disability pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 423.
To determine whether a claimant is disabled, the Commissioner, as represented by the ALJ, employs a five-step sequential analysis: (1) if the claimant is engaged in substantial gainful activity, she is not disabled; (2) if the claimant does not have a "severe" impairment, one that significantly limits his ability to perform basic work activities, she is not disabled; (3) if the claimant's impairment or combination of impairments meets or medically equals any impairment appearing in the Listing of Impairments, 20 C.F.R. pt. 404, subpart P, App. 1, the claimant is disabled; (4) if the claimant is not found to be disabled at step three and she is able to perform her past relevant work, she is not disabled; and (5) if the claimant is not found to be disabled at step three and cannot perform her past relevant work but she can perform certain other available work, she is not disabled. 20 C.F.R. § 404.1520. Before proceeding from step three to step four, the ALJ must assess the claimant's residual functional capacity (RFC), identifying the claimant's functional limitations and assessing the claimant's remaining capacity for work-related activities. S.S.R. 96-8p.
The ALJ's findings of fact are conclusive and must be upheld by this Court "so long as substantial evidence supports them and no error of law occurred." Dixon v. Massanari, 270 F.3d 1171, 1176 (7th Cir. 2001). "Substantial evidence means such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion." Id. This Court may not reweigh the evidence or substitute its judgment for that of the ALJ but may only determine whether substantial evidence supports the ALJ's conclusion. Overman v. Astrue, 546 F.3d 456, 462 (7th Cir. 2008) (citing Schmidt v. Apfel, 201 F.3d 970, 972 (7th Cir. 2000); Skinner v. Astrue, 478 F.3d 836, 841 (7th Cir. 2007)). The ALJ "need not evaluate in writing every piece of testimony and evidence submitted." Carlson v. Shalala, 999 F.2d 180, 181 (7th Cir. 1993) (citing Stephens v. Heckler, 766 F.2d 284, 287 (7th Cir. 1985); Zblewski v. Schweiker, 732 F.2d 75, 79 (7th Cir. 1984)). However, the "ALJ's decision must be based upon consideration of all the relevant evidence." Herron v. Shalala, 19 F.3d 329, 333 (7th Cir. 1994). To be affirmed, the ALJ must articulate his analysis of the evidence in his decision; while he "is not required to address every piece of evidence or testimony," he must "provide some glimpse into his reasoning" and "build an accurate and logical bridge from the evidence to [his] conclusion." Dixon, 270 F.3d at 1176.
The ALJ first determined that Bock has not engaged in substantial gainful activity since December 10, 2012, the alleged onset date. [
The ALJ next analyzed Plaintiff's residual functional capacity ("RFC"). She concluded that Plaintiff had the RFC to perform a range of light work except:
In finding these limitations, the ALJ considered Bock's "symptoms and the extent to which these symptoms can reasonably be accepted as consistent with the objective medical evidence and other evidence." [
Bock asserts the ALJ committed two errors that require remand: (1) the ALJ failed to properly address Bock's moderate limitations in maintaining concentration, persistence, or pace in the RFC and hypothetical to the VE; and (2) the ALJ failed to articulate a reason for her rejection of a medical opinion.
Bock argues that the ALJ erred by failing to accommodate Bock's moderate limitations in concentration, persistence, or pace in Bock's RFC and the hypothetical questions posed to the VE. As a general rule, both the hypothetical posed to the VE and the ALJ's RFC assessment must incorporate all of the claimant's limitations supported by the medical record. See, e.g., O'Connor-Spinner v. Astrue, 627 F.3d 614, 615 (7th Cir. 2010); see also Stewart v. Astrue, 561 F.3d 679, 684 (7th Cir. 2009). This includes any deficiencies the claimant may have in concentration, persistence, or pace ("CPP"). Yurt v. Colvin, 758 F.3d 850, 857 (7th Cir. 2014).
The Seventh Circuit has repeatedly rejected—most recently in Lanigan v. Berryhill—the notion that limiting a claimant to "simple, routine, and repetitive tasks" adequately addresses CPP deficiencies. 2017 WL 3172428, at *6 (7th Cir. July 26, 2017). "These terms refer to `unskilled work,' which the regulations define as work that can be learned by demonstration in less than 30 days. See 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.1568, 404.1520.We have explained that the speed at which work can be learned is unrelated to whether a person with mental impairments—i.e., difficulties maintaining concentration, persistence, or pace—can perform such work." Id. See also Yurt, 758 F.3d at 858-59; Stewart, 561 F.3d at 685 (7th Cir. 2009); Craft v. Astrue, 539 F.3d 668, 677-78 (7th Cir. 2008).
Here, the ALJ found that Bock has moderate difficulties with CPP, and then devised an RFC that provides (and communicated to the VE that) Bock is able to perform more than simple, routine tasks. Bock's RFC includes the ability to "understand, remember, and carryout (sic) semiskilled tasks." [
The Commissioner defends the ALJ's decision by pointing to the Mental RFC Assessment completed by the state agency consultant, to which the ALJ designated great weight. Dr. Horton, the consulting psychiatrist, indicated in the "check the box" worksheet form that plaintiff had a moderate limitation in understanding and remembering detailed instructions and had sustained concentration and persistence limitations. [
It is true that Dr. Horton's report states both of those findings: Dr. Horton's worksheet form denotes a moderate limitation in understanding and remembering detailed instructions and the narrative indicates Bock is able perform semi-skilled tasks. But adopting each of Dr. Horton's findings (the worksheet form and the narrative) does not make them internally consistent, and Dr. Horton's findings clearly are inconsistent. It unreasonable to find that a person who is moderately impaired in understanding and remembering is also able to understand, remember and carry out semi-skilled tasks. It follows, then, that the ALJ's adoption of Dr. Horton's internally inconsistent findings does not constitute substantial evidence in support of the RFC.
It is clear the ALJ formulated Bock's RFC using language from Dr. Horton's narrative ("understand, remember, and carry-out semi-skilled tasks"). However, the ALJ may rely on the state agency consultant's narrative only where it "adequately encapsulates and translates" the worksheet observations. Varga v. Colvin, 794 F.3d 809, 816. See also Vineyard v. Colvin, 2016 WL 6872949, at *5 (S.D. Ill. 2016). In this case, the narrative and the worksheet observations are at odds with one another. Instead of citing additional evidence to resolve the inconsistency and build the "logical bridge" from the evidence of mental impairment to the RFC, the ALJ granted Dr. Horton's inconsistent report great weight and adopted its inconsistent findings. Therefore, this case must be remanded.
Bock also argues the ALJ erred by failing to adequately explain the rejection of the opinion of consultative examiner Dr. Rasmussen. [
An ALJ must consider all medical opinions in the record. Roddy v. Astrue, 705 F.3d 631, 636 (7th Cir. 2013); see 20 C.F.R. § 404.1527(b). "[W]hen the evidence comes in the form of a medical opinion from a state agency physician, the agency's own regulations and rules require that the ALJ `not ignore these opinions and must explain the weight given to the opinions in their decisions.'" McKinzey v. Astrue, 641 F.3d 884, 891 (7th Cir. 2011); SSR 96-6p. The Court has already found that the ALJ committed reversible error in her analysis of Dr. Horton's opinion and the resulting RFC determination. Although the ALJ minimally articulated reasons for granting Dr. Rasmussen's opinion little weight, on remand the ALJ should more thoroughly address the reasons underlying the weight given to each medical opinion, and the opinion of Dr. Rasmussen in particular.
The standard for review of the Commissioner's denial of benefits is narrow. The Court reviews the record as a whole, but neither does it reweigh the evidence nor substitute its judgment for the ALJ's.