Fisher

MEMORANDUM OF OPINION AND ORDER

This is an action under the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. § 405 (g)) to review the final decision of the Secretary of Health and Human Services (“the Secretary”) terminating disability benefits previously granted to plaintiff, James Fisher. The Secretary terminated plaintiff’s benefits because he found that the plaintiff was no longer disabled. The Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”) found that although plaintiff is unable to return to his former job as a butcher because that work entails heavy exertion, he is capable of performing light work and is therefore no longer entitled to disability benefits. Plaintiff appeals that decision and the matter is now before the Court on cross-motions for summary judgment.

I. Background of the Claim

Plaintiff is a fifty-five year old black man. He is married and has four children. He completed six years of elementary school and had no vocational training other than that which he acquired on the job in his 21 years as a laborer in slaughterhouses and meat packing plants and in his 11 years as a butcher. He has not worked since May 1978.

Plaintiff injured his lower back several times in the course of his job as…