SSA Five-Step Sequential Evaluation
Five-step process / Step 4
Step 4: Past Relevant Work
Can you still do any past relevant work from the current five-year period?
Not disabled; evaluation stops.
Continue to Step 5.
Before Step 4, SSA assesses your residual functional capacity (RFC)—what you can still do despite your impairments. SSA compares that RFC with the demands of past relevant work. If you can perform that work as you performed it or as it is generally performed, SSA generally finds you not disabled at this step.
What counts as past relevant work now
Under SSA’s current rule, past relevant work is generally work from the five years before the decision that was substantial gainful activity, lasted long enough for you to learn it, and was performed for at least 30 consecutive calendar days. Older guides may refer to a 15-year period; SSA changed the lookback period effective June 22, 2024.
SSA may compare your RFC with a job as you actually performed it and as the job is generally performed in the national economy. Your work history, duties, dates, earnings, and the skills needed for each job can matter.
RFC: the work you can sustain
RFC is an assessment of the most you can still do on a regular and continuing basis, based on all relevant medical and other evidence. SSA considers physical and mental abilities, including sitting, standing, walking, lifting, carrying, concentration, and interaction with others.
Physical exertion levels include sedentary, light, medium, heavy, and very heavy work. The Grid Rules pages explain the sedentary, light, and medium categories used in the Medical-Vocational Guidelines.
Sitting, standing, the workday, and breaks
SSA evaluates whether limitations allow you to sustain work on a regular and continuing basis, generally eight hours a day, five days a week, or an equivalent schedule. The RFC should account for supported limits on sitting, standing, walking, changing positions, pace, and concentration.
A need to alternate sitting and standing or take additional breaks can affect which jobs remain, but SSA does not assume a particular sit/stand option or extra-break allowance. The medical and other evidence must support the limitation, and SSA considers its effect when deciding whether past work or other work can be done.
What happens after Step 4
If SSA finds that you can do past relevant work, the evaluation generally ends with a not-disabled finding. If you cannot do any past relevant work—or have none—SSA uses the same RFC at Step 5 to decide whether you can adjust to other work.
Related site resources
Medical-Vocational Grid RulesStep 5: Other workAll five evaluation stepsHow long does it take to get disability?