Form SSA-3369-BK, the Work History Report, is the form Social Security sends after you apply for disability benefits so it can decide whether you can still do any job you held in the past five years. You list every job from those five years, describe exactly what each one required physically and mentally, and return it to the office named in your cover letter, usually within about 10 days. It is not a resume. A resume sells your capability. This form does the opposite job: it has to show, honestly and specifically, what each of your past jobs demanded of a body and mind that no longer work the way they used to.
Claims are denied at this stage every day for a reason that has nothing to do with medical evidence. If your description of a past job is vague or makes the work sound lighter than it was, a disability examiner can conclude you are still able to do it, and your claim ends at step 4 without your medical records ever deciding the outcome.
Quick Facts: Form SSA-3369-BK
| Item | Detail |
|---|
| Form name | Work History Report |
| Form number | SSA-3369-BK (current edition 06-2024) |
| Who gets it | Most SSDI and SSI adult disability applicants, usually soon after filing |
| Time period covered | The 5 years before you became unable to work |
| Jobs to exclude | Jobs that started and stopped in fewer than 30 calendar days |
| Typical return window | About 10 days from the date on the cover letter |
| Where it goes | Your state Disability Determination Services (DDS) office |
| Governing guidance | POMS DI 22515.030, updated March 2026 |
| Cost | Free. No filing fee, no required representative |
Why This Form Decides Claims
Social Security uses a five-step sequential evaluation. Step 4 asks a single question: can you still do any of your past relevant work? If the answer is yes, you are denied, no matter how serious your diagnosis is. The Work History Report is the primary evidence used to answer that question.
If you clear step 4, the form keeps working for you at step 5, where Social Security asks whether you can adjust to other work. That answer depends heavily on whether your past jobs were unskilled, semi-skilled, or skilled, and whether any skills you built transfer to easier work. Those classifications come straight from how you describe your duties on this form.
For applicants over 50, the stakes get higher. The medical-vocational guidelines, commonly called the grid rules, can direct a finding of disabled for someone 50 or older who is limited to sedentary work and has no transferable skills. Someone 55 or older limited to light work with no transferable skills can also be found disabled. Describing your past work as more skilled or more managerial than it actually was can hand Social Security a transferable-skills argument that costs you an approval.
The 5-Year Rule (Changed in 2024)
Social Security used to look back 15 years. As of June 22, 2024, the agency considers only the five years before you became unable to work. Two things changed that matter here:
- Shorter window. Work older than five years is generally not past relevant work anymore, so you do not need to reconstruct a job you left in 2015.
- The 30-day rule. Work that started and stopped in fewer than 30 calendar days does not count, even if it fell inside the five years. A two-week warehouse assignment can be left off.
For a job to count as past relevant work at all, it usually has to meet three tests: it was performed within the relevant five-year period, it lasted long enough for you to learn to do it, and it was performed at substantial gainful activity (SGA) level. In 2026, SGA is $1,690 per month in gross earnings for non-blind applicants and $2,830 per month for statutorily blind applicants. Part-time work that never reached those earnings levels generally is not past relevant work, though you should still list it and let the examiner make the call.
One exception worth knowing: if you appear to fit one of the special medical-vocational profiles, such as a lifetime of arduous unskilled labor, Social Security may need work history going back further than five years. If the form or a follow-up call asks for older jobs, provide them.
Section-by-Section Walkthrough
Section 1: Information About You
Name, Social Security number, and a daytime phone number. Partly pre-filled by SSA or DDS. Use a phone number you actually answer. Examiners call when a job description is too thin to use, and an unreachable applicant gets a decision made on incomplete information.
Section 2: Information About Your Work
This is the entire form, functionally. It starts with a job list: job title, type of business, dates worked, hours per day, days per week, and rate of pay. The current edition gives you blocks for roughly four jobs. If you held more, continue in Section 3 or on a plain sheet of paper with your name and SSN at the top.
Then, for each job, you answer a detailed set of questions:
- Describe this job. What you did all day, in your own words.
- Machines, tools, or equipment. Forklifts, nail guns, industrial sewing machines, cash registers, commercial mixers, a computer.
- Technical knowledge or skills. Certifications, licenses, specialized training.
- Writing, completing reports, or similar duties.
- Physical activity hours. How many hours per day you spent walking, standing, sitting, climbing, stooping, kneeling, crouching, crawling, handling large objects, reaching, and writing, typing, or handling small objects.
- Lifting and carrying. A description of what you lifted and how far you carried it, plus two checkbox rows: the heaviest weight lifted (less than 10 lbs, 10, 20, 50, 100 lbs or more) and the weight you lifted frequently, where frequently means one-third to two-thirds of the workday.
- Supervision. Whether you supervised other people, how many, how much of your time went to supervising, whether you hired and fired, and whether you were a lead worker.
The physical-activity hours are the most consequential numbers on the page. They map directly onto the exertional categories Social Security uses.
| Category | Lifting | Typical standing/walking |
|---|
| Sedentary | Up to 10 lbs occasionally | About 2 hours per 8-hour day, mostly sitting |
| Light | Up to 20 lbs occasionally, 10 lbs frequently | About 6 hours per 8-hour day |
| Medium | Up to 50 lbs occasionally, 25 lbs frequently | About 6 hours per 8-hour day |
| Heavy | Up to 100 lbs occasionally, 50 lbs frequently | Most of the day |
| Very heavy | Over 100 lbs | Most of the day |
If you were a certified nursing assistant who transferred patients, your job was medium or heavy work. If you write "helped patients" and check 10 lbs, you have just described sedentary work, and an examiner can find you capable of returning to it.
Section 3: Remarks
Overflow space for answers that did not fit, extra jobs, and anything the checkboxes could not capture. Use it. This is where you explain that your "cashier" job also included unloading trucks twice a week, or that you were kept on only because a supervisor let you sit when your legs gave out.
If someone else filled out the form for you, that person's name, address, and the date go here.
How to Describe a Job So It Counts
Describe the job at its most demanding and most frequent, not on its easiest day. Be concrete: numbers, weights, distances, and hours.
| Weak answer | Strong answer |
|---|
| "Stocked shelves." | "Unloaded pallets and stocked shelves for an 8-hour shift. Lifted cases of 20 to 40 lbs from floor to overhead shelving roughly 100 times a shift, and pushed loaded U-boats about 200 feet across the store." |
| "Office work." | "Data entry at a computer 7 hours a day with constant typing and mousing. Carried boxes of files weighing about 25 lbs to storage twice a week." |
| "Managed a crew." | "Worked alongside a 4-person landscaping crew doing the same physical work. Assigned daily tasks but did not hire, fire, or evaluate anyone." |
Three rules make the difference:
- Never minimize. The instinct to sound competent is strong, especially for people who were proud of their work. On this form, understating what a job required is the single most expensive mistake you can make.
- Never inflate your authority. "Supervisor" and "manager" on a form can create transferable skills that disqualify you at step 5. If you were a working lead who happened to make the schedule, say that.
- Stay consistent with the rest of your file. The same job appears on your Disability Report (SSA-3368), your Function Report (SSA-3373), and in your medical records. Contradictions between them get read as credibility problems.
Common Mistakes That Sink Claims
| Mistake | Why it hurts |
|---|
| Leaving the form blank or returning it late | DDS can decide on incomplete evidence or close your claim for failure to cooperate |
| Writing only a job title | Social Security classifies the job by the generic version in its occupational data, which may be lighter than what you actually did |
| Checking the lowest lifting box out of modesty | Turns a medium job into a sedentary one and makes you look able to return to it |
| Skipping the hours-per-activity boxes | Missing hours are often read as zero |
| Listing jobs from 8 or 10 years ago | Not required under the 5-year rule and can muddy the record |
| Listing a 3-week temp job | Excluded by the 30-day rule and can add a job you never really learned |
| Claiming supervisory duties you did not have | Creates transferable skills that can defeat a grid-rule approval |
| Describing the job as you did it after you got sick | The job must be described as it was normally performed, before accommodations |
That last one deserves a note. If your employer let you sit, skip lifting, or take extra breaks during your final months, describe the job as it was normally performed and then explain the accommodations separately in Remarks. Accommodated work is not the standard Social Security measures you against, and pointing out that you only survived because of special treatment helps your claim.
How to Submit the Form
- Check your cover letter. It names the DDS office handling your claim, gives a return address or fax number, and states the deadline, typically about 10 days.
- Choose a submission method. If you applied online at ssa.gov, you may be able to complete and submit the Work History Report electronically through the same online disability portal. Otherwise, download Form SSA-3369-BK from ssa.gov/forms, complete it, and mail or fax it to the address on your letter, or drop it off at your local Social Security office.
- Write legibly and use extra pages. Print in black ink if you are completing it by hand. Put your name and Social Security number on every additional sheet.
- Keep a copy of everything. You will need it if you appeal, and a hearing years later goes better when your testimony matches what you wrote.
- Call if you need more time. If you cannot finish by the deadline, call the DDS number on the letter and ask for an extension. Requests are routinely granted. Silence is what causes problems.
What Happens After You Submit
A disability examiner at DDS reads your form alongside your medical records and your Function Report. They classify each past job by skill level and exertional level, compare those demands to your residual functional capacity (what you can still do despite your impairments), and answer the step 4 question.
If your descriptions are too thin to classify a job, the examiner or a vocational specialist may call you for follow-up. Answer that call. Follow-up telephone development is expressly built into Social Security's own procedures, and it is a second chance most applicants never realize they are getting.
If you are denied and appeal, this form travels with your file to reconsideration and, if needed, to an administrative law judge hearing. At that hearing, a vocational expert will testify about your past work based largely on what you wrote here, and the judge can ask you about it directly. That is the practical reason to be accurate rather than strategic: you may have to answer for it under oath.
Frequently Asked Questions
How far back does the Work History Report go in 2026?
Five years before the date you became unable to work. Social Security shortened the past relevant work lookback from 15 years to 5 years effective June 22, 2024, and the five-year standard is what applies to claims filed in 2026.
Do I have to list a job I held for only two weeks?
No. Work that started and stopped in fewer than 30 calendar days is excluded from past relevant work. If you are unsure whether a short job crossed that line, list it and explain the dates in Remarks.
What if I cannot remember exact dates or pay?
Give your best estimate and say it is an estimate. Your earnings record already shows employers and wages, so approximate dates will not blow up your claim. Leaving the section blank is worse than an honest approximation. You can check your own earnings history in your my Social Security account at ssa.gov.
Can I fill out the SSA-3369 online?
If you filed your disability application online, you can often complete and submit the Work History Report electronically through the same portal. If you received a paper form in the mail, follow the return instructions on your cover letter. Either route is acceptable.
What happens if I do not return the form?
Social Security can decide your claim on the evidence it already has, which usually means a denial at step 4, or close the claim for failure to cooperate. If you need more time, call the number on your cover letter and ask.
Should I describe my job as it was, or as I was doing it when I got sick?
Describe it as it was normally performed. Then, in the Remarks section, explain any accommodations you received in your final months, such as reduced lifting or extra breaks. That contrast supports your case rather than weakening it.
Does working part-time now affect this form?
The Work History Report covers past work, not current work, but current work matters elsewhere. In 2026, gross earnings above $1,690 per month for non-blind applicants ($2,830 for blind applicants) count as substantial gainful activity and can stop your claim at step 1 before the Work History Report is ever read.
Do I need a lawyer to complete the SSA-3369?
No. The form is written for applicants to complete themselves and there is no fee to file it. Representatives handle a lot of these because the vocational classification rules are technical, but a careful, specific, honest description written by you is stronger than a vague one written by anyone else.
Sources
