Katie Rygmyr v. Leland Dudek

United States Court of Appeals

For the Eighth Circuit

___________________________

No. 24-2005

___________________________

Katie Rygmyr lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiff - Appellant v.

Leland Dudek,1 Acting Commissioner of Social Security Administration lllllllllllllllllllllDefendant - Appellee ____________ Appeal from United States District Court for the District of Minnesota ____________ Submitted: April 15, 2025 Filed: April 18, 2025 [Unpublished] ____________

Before GRUENDER, KELLY, and KOBES, Circuit Judges.

____________ PER CURIAM.

Katie Rygmyr appeals the district court’s2 order affirming the denial of supplemental security income. We agree with the district court that substantial evidence in the record as a whole supports the adverse decision. See Bradford v. O’Malley, 104 F.4th 1055, 1058 (8th Cir. 2024) (de novo review of district court’s judgment; this court will affirm unless Commissioner’s findings are not supported by substantial evidence). Specifically, we agree that the administrative law judge (ALJ) did not err in defining a residual functional capacity (RFC) limitation by referencing the Dictionary of Occupational Titles’ codes categorizing the complexity of interactions required for jobs. It is the ALJ’s duty to make the RFC determination regarding an individual’s functional abilities, and to phrase that determination in vocationally specific terms when posing a hypothetical question to the vocational expert (VE). See Harris v. Barnhart, 356 F.3d 926, 929 (8th Cir. 2004) (RFC is function-by-function assessment of individual’s ability to do work-related activities); Brenner v. Schweiker, 711 F.2d 96, 99 (8th Cir. 1983) (hypothetical question to VE must set forth claimant’s functional limitations so that VE can realistically assess availability of jobs).

The judgment is affirmed.