Vocational Evaluation Services
Overview
Jessica Reyes (Bohne), M.Ed., CRC, CVE, is a vocational expert, evaluator, and the founder of Bohne Vocational Services, Inc., based in Rancho Cucamonga, California. She provides independent, evidence-based vocational analysis and expert witness testimony to attorneys, insurers, and the courts. Retained by both plaintiff and defense counsel, Jessica delivers unbiased opinions grounded in established vocational methodology, current labor market data, and a careful, direct review of each evaluee’s medical, educational, and vocational records. Her objective in every matter is the same: to provide a clear, defensible opinion on an individual’s capacity to work and earn, supported by relevant and factual information.
Areas of Practice
Jessica accepts engagements across a broad range of legal contexts, with specialty areas including:
• Personal Injury — assessing how an injury affects an individual’s ability to work and quantifying loss of earning capacity.
• Family Law — evaluating earning capacity for purposes of child and spousal support, including imputation of income and assessment of a party’s ability to become self-supporting.
• Workers’ Compensation / Industrial Injury — analyzing the vocational impact of work-related injuries and return-to-work potential.
• Employment Law — evaluating earning capacity, mitigation, and labor market access in wrongful termination, discrimination, and related matters.
• Social Security Disability — providing vocational expert testimony regarding a claimant’s capacity to work in the national economy.
Vocational Evaluation Services
At the core of Jessica’s practice is the vocational evaluation, used to determine a person’s earning capacity in general, or before and after an injury or other vocationally significant event. Each evaluation carefully weighs the impairments resulting from an injury, the evaluee’s education and work history, rehabilitation potential, transferable skills, and prevailing labor market conditions to determine damages for loss of earning capacity. Evaluations are prepared for both plaintiffs and defendants and are documented in detailed written reports of findings.
Her evaluation methodology integrates multiple sources and techniques, including:
• Standardized vocational testing
• Review and analysis of education, employment, and earnings records
• Interpretation of functional capacity evaluations, independent medical evaluations, and treating-source records
• Transferable skills analysis (TSA), including use of the Transferable Skills Service (TSS) through SkillTran
• Classification of work history using the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT), O*NET, and the Selected Characteristics of Occupations (SCO)
• Identification of job modifications and reasonable accommodations
• Identification of education and retraining possibilities
• Labor market surveys and analysis to identify jobs that exist in the relevant regional and national economies
Earning Capacity and Loss of Earning Capacity Analysis
Jessica provides both present and diminished earning capacity analysis. Drawing on the evaluee’s vocational profile and current U.S. Department of Labor and Bureau of Labor Statistics wage and employment data, she establishes a reasoned opinion of pre-event and post-event earning capacity and the resulting loss, if any. These analyses are designed to withstand scrutiny in litigation and to assist the trier of fact in understanding the vocational and economic consequences of an injury, disability, or other limiting circumstance.
Employability, Placeability, and Job Placement Consulting
Beyond earning capacity, Jessica conducts employability and placeability analyses—determining not only whether an individual is capable of work, but also whether suitable jobs realistically exist and are accessible within the local and national labor markets. She also offers national and regional job placement consulting, labor market surveys, and job surveys, and can evaluate and determine the essential requirements and functions of specific occupations.
Vocational Rehabilitation and Return-to-Work Planning
Jessica brings extensive vocational rehabilitation experience to her expert work. She interprets and analyzes functional capacity evaluations, independent medical evaluations, vocational evaluations, transferable skills analyses, labor market surveys, and individual work plans, and assesses reduced capacities. Her rehabilitation services include return-to-work planning, resume preparation, interview training, job search assistance, job placement, implementation of individual work plans, and post-employment follow-up.
Ergonomic Evaluations and Worksite Assessments
Jessica also performs ergonomic evaluations and worksite assessments, modifying tools, equipment, and workstations so that workers can perform essential job functions within their physical or mental capacities, and to help prevent additional or continued injury. Offerings range from a standard on-site ergonomic evaluation to a comprehensive medical-legal ergonomic evaluation that incorporates medical record review, functional capacity considerations, and analysis of job demands, documented in a detailed narrative report suitable for litigation.
Expert Witness Testimony
Jessica provides vocational expert witness testimony in trial, deposition, arbitration, and administrative hearing settings. She is experienced responding to both direct and crossexamination by judges and attorneys regarding an evaluee’s ability to work and transferable skills. Since 2017, she has served as a vocational expert for the United States Social Security Administration, Office of Hearings Operations, testifying in thousands of disability hearings regarding claimants’ capacity to work in the national economy, residual functional capacity, transferable skills, and the existence of jobs in significant numbers. She has been retained in civil matters across multiple states, including California, Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Utah, Texas, and Hawaii.
Qualifications and Credentials
Jessica holds a Master of Education in Rehabilitation Counseling from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from California State University, San Bernardino. Her professional credentials include:
• Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC)
• Certified Vocational Evaluation Specialist (CVE)
• Social Security Vocational Expert (SSVE)
Her career spans both the public and private sectors, including roles as a vocational rehabilitation case manager with Cigna Group Operations and as a certified vocational rehabilitation counselor for injured workers under the jurisdiction of the Hawaii Department of Labor, where she also served disabled veterans through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Professional Leadership, Publications, and Presentations
Jessica is an active leader in her field, currently serving as President of the Executive Board of the California Chapter of the International Association of Rehabilitation Professionals (IARP), following terms as President-Elect and Secretary. She also serves on the IARP Education Planning Committee and the Social Security Vocational Expert Section Board as a Member-At-Large. She authored “Vocational Evaluations: How They Can Assist with Child and Spousal Support Accountability,” published in the California Lawyers Association’s Family Law News (2020), and was an invited speaker for the IARP California Chapter on becoming a Social Security Vocational Expert.