Public Health – Disability benefits

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Public Health – Disability benefits

The ALJ’s determination that a disability applicant’s activities undermined her claims of inability to work.

“The ALJ concluded that, taken together, the amount of daily activities Pepper performed, the level of exertion necessary to engage in those types of activities, and the numerous notations in Pepper’s medical records regarding her ability to engage in activities of daily living undermined Pepper’s credibility when describing her subjective complaints of pain and disability. These are exactly the type of factors the ALJ was required to consider. See S.S.R. 96-7p, 1996 SSR LEXIS 4, at *7-8. It is true the ALJ could have been more specific as to which physical and mental impairments and symptoms he thought were exaggerated, as opposed to generally referencing large-scale portions of Pepper’s daily-activity testimony, but that fact does not change the result here. The ALJ’s explanation was sufficient to reasonably conclude that Pepper exaggerated the effects of her impairments. It also was not ‘patently wrong.’”

Affirmed.

12-2261 Pepper v. Colvin

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois, Shadid, J., Bauer, J.

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