SSA-3369 Work History Report Walkthrough: How to Fill It Out the Right Way

In this walkthrough, I'll guide you through each section of the SSA-3369 Work History Report, give you tips to complete it effectively, and show you exactly how I would fill it out if I were applying for disability. I give different advice depending on whether you are under 50 or over 50, so let's start there.

Why Your Age Matters on This Form

If you are below 45 years old and applying for Social Security Disability, how you fill out this form honestly does not matter much strategically. Regardless of what you put, you are going to have to show the SSA that there are no jobs you can perform in order to qualify for benefits. This form alone won't change the outcome for you.

If you are 45 and up, particularly if you're over 50, it really starts to matter. Once you're over 50, it becomes a lot easier to get disability benefits because of the SSA's medical-vocational grid rules. You no longer have to show that you can't perform every job. You just have to show that you can't perform jobs at the light exertional level, meaning you don't have to prove you can't do sedentary work, and you could still qualify for benefits. Here's the catch, so long as you cannot perform your past work.

That makes it really important to fill out this form in a way that's going to be favorable for your claim. Whether or not you get disability benefits could depend largely on your past work, and the SSA gets that information from you using this form.

If you want to understand what makes a disability case strong overall, I have a separate article that covers that: What Makes a Social Security Disability Case Strong?

Section 1: Personal Information

The first section asks for basic personal information: your name, Social Security number, and your daytime telephone number.

Section 2: Job History

Important update: As of June 22, 2024, the SSA changed the past relevant work period from 15 years to 5 years under SSR 24-2p. The updated SSA-3369 form (revised June 2024) now asks you to list the jobs you had in the 5 years before you became unable to work. You should also leave out any job that started and stopped in fewer than 30 calendar days.

For our walkthrough, I'll use three example jobs to show you how to handle a heavy job, a light job, and a sedentary job.

• Job 1: Warehouse Worker. Type of business: construction. Dates worked: 2017 through 2021.
• Job 2: Barista. Type of business: coffee shop. Dates worked: 2021 through 2023.
• Job 3: Secretary. Type of business: insurance. Dates worked: 2023 through 2025 (when we hypothetically stopped working).

Job 1: Warehouse Worker

Rate of pay: $15/hour, 8 hours/day, 5 days/week.

Describe This Job

Whenever you're filling out your job information, you need to be as detailed as you can possibly be. Here's what I would write:

Lifted and carried materials around the warehouse. Sorted and stored materials in their location. Drove forklift to transport materials. Drafted, received, and copied data from packing slips. Made sure warehouse floor was clear of debris.

Seriously, every time for all jobs, you want to include as much detail as possible. If your description takes longer than the space provided, use the Remarks section or attach an additional page. Your case comes down to whether or not you can perform your past work. If you can't do part of what a job entailed, that might prevent you from being sent back to that past job, and that might win or lose your case. So this part is really important.

Machines, Skills, and Reports

• Did you use machines, tools, or equipment? Yes.
• Technical knowledge or skills? Yes.
• Did you complete any reports? Yes.

I'm answering yes here because it fits our hypothetical warehouse worker job. But as a general principle, the more physically demanding a job is, the better it is for your claim. The more skilled the job appears, the worse it is for you. Preferably, you want the answers to these skill-related questions to be no, but you must always be honest.

Walking, Standing, and Sitting

The form asks how many hours each day you spent walking, standing, sitting, climbing, stooping, kneeling, crouching, crawling, handling, and reaching. Your walking, standing, and sitting need to add up to 8 hours.

For our warehouse worker: Walking 5 hours, standing 2 hours, sitting 1 hour. That adds up to 8 hours.

For the remaining activities, they don't need to add up to 8. I'd put reaching for 30 minutes, handling small objects for 4 hours. The rest matter less, but all of these could make a difference in any particular case.

The key principle: the higher the walking and standing, the better. The lower the sitting, the better. Manipulative limitations (handling, reaching, writing) are very strong in disability cases, so the higher those numbers, the better for you.

And of course, always be honest. You can't have a job title of "warehouse worker" where you're sitting for 6 hours a day. That will affect your credibility. But understanding the general guideposts of what's favorable is important.

Lifting and Carrying

The form asks you to explain what you lifted, how far you carried it, and how often. I would write: Lifted heavy machine parts for half the day.

Lifting and carrying is crucial when you're over 50. If you have a back problem and can no longer lift or carry the heavy weights you used to, that alone can win your case. Think about the heaviest thing you ever lifted in your job, talk about it here, and talk about everything you had to lift. Most importantly, focus on:

1. The frequency you had to lift
2. The heaviest weight you ever lifted

Those are the outer limits you can point to and say, "I can't lift that frequently anymore" or "I can't lift that heavy anymore, so I can't do that past job."

• Heaviest weight lifted: 100 pounds (this is a warehouse job, so it's very heavy work).
• Most frequently lifted: 50 pounds or more.

The heavier the weight, the better for your claim, regardless of job type.

Supervision

• Did you supervise other people? You want the answer to be no. In our example, we did supervise people, so we'll say yes. The fewer people and the less time supervising, the better.
• Time spent supervising: 2 hours.
• Did you hire and fire? You want no, but we'll say yes here.
• Were you a lead worker? You want no.

The truth is always the most important thing, but understand that supervisory and skilled work experience can work against you in a disability case.

Job 2: Barista

Rate of pay: $15/hour, 8 hours/day, 5 days/week.

Describe This Job

Made coffee drinks. Used an espresso machine. Served pastries to customers. Worked a cash register. Received boxes of goods to be served and sold. Washed dishes in back. Mopped floor at store close. Took out trash. Put clean dishes in the areas to be used.

I'm showing you that you've got to fill up all the space with as much detail as possible, focusing on how much you had to lift, how much you had to reach, that kind of stuff.

Machines, Skills, and Reports

• Machines, tools, or equipment? Yes (espresso machine).
• Technical knowledge or skills? No.
• Writing or completing reports? No.

Walking, Standing, and Sitting

• Walking: 1 hour. Standing: 7 hours. Sitting: 0 hours.
• Stooping: 30 minutes. Kneeling, crouching, crawling: 30 minutes each.
• Grasping objects: 2 hours. Reaching: nearly all day. Handling small objects: nearly all day.

Lifting and Carrying

Lifted heavy boxes in the back of store that contained food to be sold to customers. Emptied trash. Moved mop bucket.

• Heaviest weight lifted: 50 pounds.
• Most frequently lifted: less than 10 pounds.

Supervision

• Did you supervise other people? No. Skip to the last question.
• Were you a lead worker? No.

We've emphasized the physical demands and de-emphasized skill.

Job 3: Secretary

Rate of pay: $15/hour, 8 hours/day, 5 days/week.

Describe This Job

Writing letters. Transcribing dictations. Filing documents. Receiving phone calls from clients. Making phone calls inside office and to other businesses. Updating clients regarding status of claims. Drafting and replying to emails on behalf of business owner.

Machines, Skills, and Reports

• Machines, tools, or equipment? No.
• Technical knowledge or skills? Yes.
• Writing or completing reports? Yes.

Walking, Standing, and Sitting

This is going to be a sedentary job because it requires sitting for most of the day.

• Sitting: nearly all day.
• Handle big objects: occasionally.
• Reached: nearly all day.
• Write, type, or handle small objects: nearly all day.

Lifting and Carrying

Boxes of paper.

• Heaviest weight lifted: up to 50 pounds, but usually lifting much less than that.

Supervision

• Supervise? No.
• Lead worker? No.

And that's how I would complete the form for all three jobs.

Composite Jobs: A Strategy You Should Know About

Composite jobs are jobs that have the basic elements of two or more occupations combined into one, so the job doesn't have a counterpart in the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT), which is the reference the SSA uses to categorize jobs. The DOT hasn't been updated since 1991, but the SSA still relies on it for disability adjudication while it develops a replacement called the Occupational Information System (OIS).

The composite job concept is important because if you are over 50 and your case comes down to whether you can perform your past work, showing that your job was actually a composite job (two jobs in one) can work in your favor. If you can't do one of the two occupations that were combined in your past job, you may not have to show that you can't perform the other one.

Example: Let's say you were a school bus monitor. According to the DOT, that is a light job, requiring standing for 6 hours and sitting for 2 hours in an 8-hour day, lifting no more than 20 pounds at a time and only 10 pounds frequently. But if the children on your bus included kids in wheelchairs that you had to help on and off the bus, your actual job also included duties of a child care attendant, which is a medium job requiring lifting up to 50 pounds. You could argue this was a composite job, and if you can show you can no longer perform the medium-level duties, you don't have to separately prove you can't do the lighter school bus monitor duties as "generally performed."

If you're over 50, this strategy matters a great deal. I would recommend talking to a disability attorney if you think the composite jobs rule might apply to your case. For more on building a strong claim overall, check out how to increase your odds of winning.

Tips for Filling Out the SSA-3369

• Be detailed. Fill every available line. If you run out of space, use the Remarks section or attach additional pages.
• Be honest. Don't exaggerate your job duties, but don't understate the physical demands either.
• Emphasize physical demands. Talk about the heaviest thing you ever lifted, how far you carried it, and how often. This is especially important if you're over 50.
• De-emphasize supervisory and skilled work. If you didn't supervise people, make that clear. If you didn't need special training, say so.
• Stay consistent. Your answers on the SSA-3369 should match what you put on your Adult Disability Report (SSA-3368) and your Function Report (SSA-3373). Contradictions hurt your credibility.
• Get help if you need it. If you already have a disability attorney, have them review this form before you submit it. A medical source statement from your doctor is also one of the strongest pieces of evidence you can have, so make sure that is consistent with your work history too.

Should You Get an Attorney Involved?

If you're thinking about applying for disability or you're unsure whether it's the right move, I have a separate article on how to know if it's time to apply. And if you want a free, step-by-step guide to the disability application process, including the Work History Report and the Adult Function Report, scroll up and click "Get Free Guide."