## Facts

- Thoa Thi Le applied for Supplemental Security Income, alleging disability beginning November 1, 1999, based on conditions including hypertension, obesity, and hyperlipidemia.
- Le had a fourth-grade education and previously worked in Vietnam as a rice farmer on her family’s farm.
- The rice farming was unpaid; she farmed for sustenance and barter and received no wages.
- An Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) denied benefits at step four of the five-step evaluation, finding Le could perform her “past relevant work” as a rice farmer.
- The ALJ treated Le’s unpaid subsistence farming as substantial gainful activity (SGA) and therefore as past relevant work.
- The Commissioner adopted the ALJ’s decision, and Le sought judicial review under 42 U.S.C. § 405(g).

## Issues

1. Whether the ALJ legally erred at step four by classifying Le’s unpaid subsistence rice farming as substantial gainful activity and therefore “past relevant work.”
2. Whether the Commissioner’s non-disability determination was supported by substantial evidence and free of legal error.

## Decision

- The district court reversed the Commissioner’s decision and remanded for further proceedings.
- The court held the ALJ erred by treating unpaid subsistence farming for sustenance and barter, without wages, as SGA and past relevant work.
- The court declined to award benefits outright, concluding that further administrative proceedings were required.

## Legal Principles

- Judicial review under 42 U.S.C. § 405(g) permits reversal of the Commissioner’s decision if it is based on legal error or not supported by substantial evidence.
- “Past relevant work” at step four must qualify as substantial gainful activity.
- Under SSA regulations, SGA generally involves significant activities done for pay or profit, or work of a type usually done for pay or profit, whether or not a profit is realized. (20 C.F.R. §§ 404.1572, 416.972)
- An ALJ’s step-four finding is legally defective if it rests on an incorrect threshold classification of prior activity as SGA.
- The ALJ must assess residual functional capacity between steps three and four and apply it to qualifying past relevant work.

## Conclusion

The court ruled that the ALJ’s step-four denial rested on a legal error because unpaid subsistence rice farming performed for family support and barter did not constitute substantial gainful activity or past relevant work; the denial was reversed and the matter remanded for reconsideration under the correct standards.


Le v. Astrue, 540 F. Supp. 2d 1144 (C.D. Cal. 2008)