SSDRC

Filing an Application for Disability Benefits

Social Security Disability List of Impairments

Social Security Disability and SSI Back pay

Social Security Disability Status

SSI Disability Benefits

Social Security Disability and SSI Requirements

Social Security, SSI, and Mental Disability

How Long Does It Take To Get Disability Benefits?

Qualifying: What do you Need to Prove to Qualify for Disability?

What happens if you are working when you file for disability or after you apply for disability?

Practical Considerations for a Disability Claim with Regard to Work Activity

Because the social security administration focuses on the individual's ability to engage in work activity at a certain earning level (the current limit is here: the SGA earnings level), individuals who are thinking of filing for disability benefits under the SSD (social security disability) or SSI (supplemental security income) program should know that if they apply while they are working and earning an SGA-level income, their case will receive a very fast "technical denial".

When this type of denial occurs--based on an applicant's level of earnings--their case will not have been transferred to the state disability processing agency (disability determination services, the agency that makes decisions on claims for the social security administration) and also will not have been assigned to a disability examiner. This means that the applicant's medical records will not have been gathered and evaluated, simply because the applicant's level of earnings made their claim ineligible (for non-medical reasons) from the very beginning.

By the same token, applicants who were not working at the time they filed a disability claim but returned to work at a substantial and gainful work activity level while their disability application or disability appeal was being evaluated on would receive a "denial for SGA", i.e. a denial for working and earning in excess of the allowed limit.

Because of this, anyone who is considering filing for social security disability or SSI should understand that there is little point to doing so if they are working full time as they would most likely be earning an SGA-level income. Also, a person who has a claim under consideration should be careful about engaging in work activity as this can easily bring the processing of a claim to a screeching halt if the individual's earnings are too high.

Finally, individuals who have already been approved for disability benefits should be very careful about returning to work activity as this has the potential for terminating their monthly benefits. The social security administration does allow individuals who receive benefits to attempt to re-enter the workforce and actually gives them nine trial work months in which they can work and earn as much as they can without it endangering their continued eligibility. However, if the individual's earnings match the SGA limit in the tenth month their benefits will be stopped.