A transferable skills analysis is an argument. It says this person can do these other jobs, at this wage, in this labor market, within these restrictions. Every one of those four claims can be attacked, and a TSA that has not anticipated the attack is not worth what was paid for it.
1. Restrictions tie back to a physician
The restrictions in the analysis must be the physician's, quoted and cited, not the counselor's interpretation of them. The moment a TSA paraphrases a restriction, opposing counsel has an opening: who decided that lifting thirty pounds occasionally means this claimant can work a warehouse line?
If the restrictions are ambiguous, the honest move is to say so and seek clarification, not to resolve the ambiguity silently in the direction that helps the file.
2. Work history is verified, not reported
A claimant's account of what they did is a starting point. What the job actually required is a different question. A cook at a Strip property and a cook at a fast-casual counter share a title and share very little else in physical demand, equipment or skill level.
We verify against employer records, job descriptions and, where it matters, a site visit. A TSA built on a claimant's self-report and a job title is a TSA built on sand.
3. The labor market is local and current
Nevada is not a national labor market and Las Vegas is not Reno. A TSA that identifies occupations without establishing that those jobs exist, in this valley, at this wage, right now, has identified a category rather than an opportunity.
Current means current. Labor market data more than a few months old invites the obvious question about what has changed since.
4. The wage math is shown
The point of vocational rehabilitation is earnings, not employment. An analysis that lands the claimant in a job paying half the pre-injury average monthly wage has not solved the problem the statute is aimed at. Show the pre-injury wage, show the target wage, show the gap, and address it.
The test we use internally
Before a transferable skills analysis leaves this office, it is read as if a hearing officer and opposing counsel are reading it. Every conclusion must be traceable to a document in the file. Anything that cannot survive that read does not go out.
General information about Nevada vocational rehabilitation practice. Not legal advice.
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