HOW EMPLOYMENT AND SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY BENEFITS IMPACT EACH OTHER – AND HOW TO MAXIMIZE BOTH

BY ALEXANDRA BAIG, MBA, CFP®

In the Social Security Administration's parlance, an adult is determined to be disabled: "if he or she has a medically determinable physical or mental impairment (or combination of impairments) that prevents him or her from doing any substantial gainful activity (SGA) and has lasted or is expected to last for a continuous period of at least 12 months, or is expected to result in death."

The fact that "doing substantial gainful activity" is broadly interpreted to mean "doing work," leads to a common misconception that working is incompatible with obtaining or maintaining one's eligibility for Social Security benefits such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI, Title XVI) or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI, Title II). In fact, the converse is true. Social Security disability benefits and work exist in a symbiotic relationship.

First, actually working prior to applying for benefits is one of the best ways to demonstrate to the Social Security Administration that you cannot perform SGA. This is because the SSA further defines performing SGA as the capacity to earn a certain amount per month from working. For 2022, that amount is $1,350 for persons with most types of disabilities and $2,260 for people whose disability(ies) include statutory blindness. If you have worked prior to applying for disability benefits but have never earned more than the SGA threshold for that respective year (the SGA amount is subject to annual adjustment), and particularly, if you have always earned well below the threshold, it is easier to make the argument that, though are you are able to work, your disability does preclude you from performing SGA.

Many youths with disabilities apply for Social Security benefits at the age of 18. For those who have never worked, their primary non-medical evidence of disabling condition(s) is found in their Individual Education Plans (IEPs) and related documents. IEPs that speak of the student in glowing terms and report grades of As, Bs and Cs, without stating

clearly that the student is graded against adapted requirements and receives significant accommodations, suggest to the SSA that the student is capable and probably can work at a level that would meet the Administration's relatively low financial bar of "substantial." However, if the student has worked, even in a volunteer or on-campus setting, has never earned more than the SGA threshold and can provide written evidence from teachers, paraprofessionals, job coaches and supervisors that documents the students need for onthe-job support, that evidence will go a long way towards supporting the student's disability claim.

Second, when a person with a disability works, even though they are earning below the SGA threshold, they are still accumulating Social Security Credits. While eligibility for SSI and Medicaid, which is generally related, hinges only on disability and low income and assets, eligibility for SSDI, Social Security retirement benefits and Medicare require the applicant to have accumulated a certain number of Social Security quarters of coverage, also called Social Security credits. In 2022, a worker accumulates one credit for every $1,510 in gross earnings. The maximum number of credits one can accumulate in a year is four. So you can see that it is perfectly possible to earn one's four credits by earning a minimum of $6,040 over the course of a year and still stay well below the SGA threshold. Although workers require 40 credits to be fully insured for retirement, they need less credits to be insured for SSDI. Significantly less if they are well below the age of retirement when the SSA is determining eligibility.