Work And Receive Benefits
To be eligible for Social Security Disability benefits you must be unable to engage in Substantial Gainful Activity . In 2013, the monthly amount the SSA considers SGA is $1,040.00. If you apply for Social Security disability benefits while working full time or if your gross income exceeds $1,040.00 per month, your claim for Social Security Disability benefits will most likely be denied.
You can apply for SSD and receive benefits if your monthly income remains below the amount set forth by the SSA of $1,040.00 per month.
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How Much Time Off Do You Get With Short
While I might sound like a broken record, a concern like, How long is short-term disability? is another aspect that can vary depending on your own plan.
By definition, its short-term, but it can range in duration. Ive seen be as short as 30 days and as long as one year, Bartolic says, pointing to the maximum covered benefit periods hes seen in his own practice. It depends on the overall structure of the disability benefits through the employer.
Your time off also depends on your specific health problem. The medical field has guidelines as to how long recovery should take, explains Bartolic. That provides a roadmap for your employer or plan provider to establish a reasonable amount of time for you to be out of work.
What if things are really serious and youre not looking at a few weeks or even months away from the jobbut much longer? That would fall under a long-term disability benefit, if your employer offers such a thing.
As the names imply, short-term disability is used to cover injuries or illnesses that persist for a shorter amount of time . In contrast, long-term disability comes into play for any issues that will take you out of work for longer than that.
Pennsylvania’s Disability Appeals Process
In Pennsylvania, for years Social Security had shortened the appeals process by eliminating the first stage of appeal, the reconsideration step, but reconsideration has been reinstated as of April 2019. The second appeal step is a hearing in front of a judge. In order to keep the right to appeal your disability decision, you must submit an appeal in writing within 60 days of receiving your initial or reconsideration determination letter from the BDD.
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Expedited Reinstatement Of Benefits
At the end of the EPE there is an additional five year period called âexpedited reinstatement of benefits.â If the original impairment flairs up within five years of the end of the 36-month EPE, preventing the individual from earning SGA, Social Security can reinstate the SSDI benefits provisionally while a medical review is completed. If the medical review confirms the disability condition or blindness, then the provisional SSDI benefits will be made permanent. If the medical review concludes that there is not a medical disability, SSDI benefits will be immediately terminated but with no overpayment for benefits paid provisionally.
How Long You Can Collect Workers Compensation With A Permanent Total Disability
This classification assumes that you are 50 percent or more disabled and that you cannot return to work in any capacity.
You can collect lost wage benefits indefinitely. Until 2017, disabled workers faced an evaluation after 104 weeks of benefits, to determine if their status remained accurate. However, a recent court ruling rendered that evaluation unconstitutional.
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Hearing Before An Administrative Law Judge
After you request an appeal hearing, you will be given a date for your hearing before an ALJ. Unfortunately, the waiting times in Pennsylvania are long: 15 months.
At your hearing, you will have the chance to present the most important parts of your case through questions and answers asked by the ALJ or your disability lawyer. Additionally, you will be able to bring a witness to testify about your impairments.
The success rate for hearings is higher than initial application approvals. In Pennsylvania, the approval rating at hearings is higher than the national average. After a hearing, 50% of disability claimants are approved . If you are represented by a disability lawyer, your chance of getting a fully favorable decision increases.
Below is the contact information for the Office of Hearings Operations , the office that handles all hearings. Their regional office is based in Philadelphia and there are eight local offices that are spread throughout the state. Here is the contact information:
8380 Old York Road, Suite 250Elkins Park, Pennsylvania 19027
Services the following field offices: Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton, Fairless Hills, Limerick, Philadelphia , and Reading
2 N. 2nd Street, 8th FloorHarrisburg, Pennsylvania 17101
Services the following field offices: Carlisle, Chambersburg, Harrisburg, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lewistown, and York
334 Washington Street, Suite 200Johnstown, Pennsylvania 15901-9954
6 Suburban Court
Services the Uniontown field office
If You File For Disability Does That Mean You Should Quit Your Job
To those asking do you have to be unemployed to file for disability, you do not.
However, as described in the section above, you need to be earning less than the SGA limit, working limited hours, and not be performing work that conflicts with your disability claim.
In order to meet those requirements, you would not be able to keep a full-time job. However, there may be situations where you could keep your existing job and work limited hours.
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The Limited Employment Eligibility Loophole
If, while collecting unemployment benefits, you are searching for work that is within the limitations of your disability, you might be able to convince an examiner or an administrative law judge to allow you to collect both unemployment and disability benefits.
You might also be able to collect disability and unemployment benefits by searching only for jobs that would require the employer to make special accommodations for your disability that most employers would be unwilling to make.
Legal Consequences Of Disability And Unemployment Fraud
Above all, be honest. You dont want to play games with state or federal law, and you certainly dont want to misrepresent or conceal any fact that might be relevant in determining your eligibility for disability and unemployment.
In a worst-case scenario you could be charged with a felony, imprisoned for five years and fined $250,000. Civil penalties are even more likely fines and reimbursement for improper disability and unemployment benefits already paid to you, for example.
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Can You Work A Part
Pennsylvania law requires all employers to purchase workers compensation insurance to ensure that employees who are injured on the job will be compensated for lost time and medical expenses.
There is no predetermined timeframe of illness and injury. Wage loss is determined based on the injurys impact on your ability to perform your job and whether you suffer from a permanent disability or are partially disabled.
In this way, the state attempts to award an amount that reflects an employees current medical bills, but also his or her future inability to earn the same income.
However, the injuries of many employees are not this severe, leaving them partially disabled. In these cases, an injured employee may be able to work part-time for the same employer or for another employer who offers lower-paying work that is within the range of tasks that the employee can complete.
While this is permissible under Pennsylvanias workers compensation laws, it does mean that the number of benefits being received will be reduced, and it can actually jeopardize the claim itself.
These individuals can continue to receive workers compensation benefits but must comply with specific limitations. If you were injured at work and are only able to work part-time, it is important to speak with an experienced workers compensation attorney who can ensure that you receive the compensation you deserve.
Confused About The Rules About Working While Getting Benefits Talk To An Experienced Workers Compensation Attorney
While working part-time is not necessarily prohibited under Pennsylvanias workers compensation law, it can jeopardize the success of a claim.
If you were injured at work, but are offered part-time employment at a less physically demanding job, it is important to speak with an experienced workers compensation lawyer before making a decision.
Feel free to contact the workers compensation law firm at Krasno Krasno & Onwudinjo by calling 243-4846 or starting a live chat on our site to learn more about your legal options. Remember, KK& O offers free case evaluations even before an attorney-client relationship is established.
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Pennsylvania Ssdi Requirements And Limits In 2021
You must meet several requirements set by the Social Security Administration to qualify for SSDI benefits. Your physical or mental disability must substantially limit your ability to support yourself financially. If you are capable of earning a living, the SSA will reject your disability claim.
The SSA defines being able to support yourself financially as substantial gainful activity . Last year, the SGA threshold was $1,260 a month. The SSA has increased the SGA amount to $1,310 per month for 2021.
If you are blind, the threshold is higher. Last year, the income limit for a blind person is $2,110 per month. This limit will increase to $2,190 per month for 2021.
SSDI is designed to be a system that only provides benefits to those who cannot otherwise support themselves. However, these limits are not always fair. Many people in many places in Pennsylvania find it difficult to pay for rent, groceries, daily expenses, medical care, and other costs with disability benefits alone. As such, many people seek side jobs and extra income, but it is important to be careful and make sure that that income does not peak too high. In practice, the restriction on outside income is even lower than the SGA limit because of trial work period rules.
How Can I Find A Disability Lawyer In Pennsylvania
If you want help with your disability claim or appeal, you can find an experienced disability attorney in your area by going to our Pennsylvania disability lawyers page.
Self-help services may not be permitted in all states. The information provided on this site is not legal advice, does not constitute a lawyer referral service, and no attorney-client or confidential relationship is or will be formed by use of the site. The attorney listings on this site are paid attorney advertising. In some states, the information on this website may be considered a lawyer referral service. Please reference the Terms of Use and the Supplemental Terms for specific information related to your state. Your use of this website constitutes acceptance of the Terms of Use, Supplemental Terms, Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy. Do Not Sell My Personal Information
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The Ssa Giveth And The Ssa Taketh Away
Getting approved for benefits had come as such a relief. James had heard horror stories of how it takes some applicants months or even years to get approved.
He qualified for benefits because his condition is permanent. It affects his speech and fine motor skills. He says those deficits, combined with the stereotypes about people with disabilities, have left him unable to secure a full-time job despite having a masters degree in instructional technology.
If you receive SSI or SSDI, did not file taxes in 2019 and did not receive a stimulus check this year, you can still use the IRS Non-Filer Tool until Nov. 21, 2020.
So James does gig work because not working at all goes against his nature. Thats not who I am, he says.
But navigating Social Securitys work-related rules is very, very frustrating.
Disability benefits experts say discrimination, confusion regarding the rules and fear of benefits being cut at any time are all too common. And thats despite the official Social Security position that people on disability should work to their fullest potential.
What You Should Know About Additional Income While Receiving Workers Comp
Under workers compensation laws, injured employees who receive benefits must report any income they earn to their employers insurer.
For example, if a person worked at a single job, he or she would only be required to report the salary from that source. However, someone who worked at two jobs and was injured while working at the primary place of employment would need to report both sources of income, even if the second job is only part-time.
Fortunately, under Pennsylvania law, insurers are required to take incomes from all forms of employment into account at the time the employee was injured.
This means that even when an employee is injured at one job, the wages from both employers will be considered as if they were earned only from the employer who is liable for compensation.
As a result, injured employees are eligible to collect two-thirds of the combined weekly wages from both jobs.
If an injured party is able to work on a full or part-time basis, whether for the primary employer or a secondary employer, he or she must immediately report this to the insurance company, which will then adjust the benefits accordingly to account for the additional income.
This process was put in place to prevent what is referred to as double-dipping, which occurs when an employee collects a workers comp check, while also collecting a paycheck from another job.
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Working And Ssdi Benefits
Generally, SSDI recipients can’t do what’s considered “substantial gainful activity” and continue to receive disability benefits. In a nutshell, doing SGA means you are working and making more than $1,310 per month in 2021 . To encourage SSDI recipients to go back to work, however, Social Security has created some exceptions to this rule. SSDI recipients are entitled to a trial work period during which they can make more than the SGA amount without losing benefits.
For the nine-month trial work period, SSDI recipients are entitled to test their ability to work and continue to receive full benefits regardless of whether they make more than the SGA amount. For 2021, the Social Security Administration considers any month where a person has a monthly income of more than $940 to be a trial work month. If you are self-employed, any month where you work more than 80 hours can also be considered a trial work month.
Once you have completed the nine-month trial work period , you can still receive SSDI for any month where your earnings fall below the SGA level, for a period of 36 months. This three-year period is called the “extended period of eligibility.” In other words, if you earn less than $1,310 in any month, you will get benefits, but if you earn more than $1,310 in any month, you won’t get disability benefits for that month .
For more information, see our article on the trial work period, the extended period of eligibility, and expedited reinstatement.
What If I Work Many Hours For Someone Else
Generally, your monthly income matters most for your eligibility. However, working too many hours could affect your case.
For example, maybe youre working close full-time hours even though you dont earn over $1,260 per month. The SSA might consider you able to work a full-time job and deny you for benefits. It will be harder to convince Social Security that youre disabled if you can work many hours.
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You Can Work As Long As Your Countable Income Doesn’t Go Above The Ssi Income Limit
By Melissa Linebaugh, Contributing Author
One of the basic requirements for getting approved for disability benefits is that your medical condition is so severe it prevents you from performing a substantial amount of work. The Social Security Administration defines a substantial amount of work, which it calls substantial gainful activity , as earning $1,310 a month from working . Therefore, if you are earning this much from work when you apply for benefits, you will be denied.
However, once you get approved for SSI, the SSA no longer determines whether you are making over the SGA amount. But the SSA will reduce your SSI benefits if you are working by subtracting part of your income from your payment. If you go over the SSI income limit, the SSA will terminate your benefits. In general, though, the SSA encourages SSI recipients to try to go back to work and has created a number of work incentives that let a person work without losing their eligibility for benefits.
Can I Receive Benefits From Both Workers’ Compensation And Ssd Or Ssi
Generally, you can receive benefits from both workers’ compensation and SSD. However, if you are receiving workers’ compensation, the payments you receive for SSD benefits will be reduced, so that the combined amount of the SSD benefits you receive do not exceed 80 percent of your average current earnings. If your workers’ compensation payment stops, your SSD benefits will usually increase. If you are receiving workers’ compensation, you probably won’t be eligible to receive SSI benefits. However, the only way to find out if you qualify is to contact the Social Security Administration.
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Ssdi Income Limits In Pennsylvania
If you are disabled, you may be eligible for monthly Social Security Disability Insurance payments. To qualify for SSDI, your condition must be serious enough to limit your ability to earn a living. Earning a living does not necessarily mean you cannot work you may still work and earn some money while you receive SSDI benefits.
However, there are strict income limits in place, and your ability to work may disqualify you from receiving SSDI benefits. Our Philadelphia disability lawyers will help you understand the SSDI income limits for 2021.
If you or a loved one receives or is considering applying for disability benefits through SSDI, call Young, Marr & Associates today for a free consultation with our Pennsylvania SSDI lawyers. Call us today at 515-2954.