Cardew v. Commissioner of Social Security

Cardew, a wheelchair-bound quadriplegic, had a summer internship with Lear Corporation thanks to his cousin, a Lear vice president. Over about three months, Cardew earned $5,502.75. Lear allowed Cardew a 30-hour work week, rather than the typical 40-hour week; exempted him from tasks typically assigned interns that involved traveling and from clerical tasks because of his difficulty with typing; and allowed more frequent breaks to adjust his position to avoid skin ulcers and use the restroom. Lear also paid $4,0000 to modify doors to be wheelchair-accessible. After the internship, Cardew applied for child disability benefits retroactive to age 15, when an accident rendered him, quadriplegic. Having applied after his eighteenth birthday, he had to prove that he has lived with a continuous disability since the accident. An ALJ denied Cardew’s application based on the income he received from Lear, reasoning that because Cardew’s earnings over three months exceeded a “bright line” threshold in the regulations, he had been “able to work at the substantial gainful activity level.” The Sixth Circuit vacated, finding the legal analysis incomplete and more rigid than the regulations require. Even assuming Cardew engaged in “gainful” activity, the ALJ failed to consider all the special conditions attendant to Cardew’s internship that could rebut the presumption, created by his income, that he had engaged in “substantial” activity. View "Cardew v. Commissioner of Social Security" on Justia Law