Returning to Work: How Does That Affect My Claim?

While waiting for a Social Security claim to be decided, a person might return to work for different reasons. Bills that need paid might be piling up exponentially, or a person might feel their condition has improved to a point where they can return to work permanently. You might think this would end the claim, but not necessarily so. The Social Security Administration has specific regulations in place that allow someone to try to return to work without affecting their pending claim or benefits they may already be receiving. This article will discuss the two most common issues:

Unsuccessful Work Attempt

While a person’s claim is pending, they may try to return to work but find they are unable to do so because of their disability, or because their disability is not being accommodated in the work place. When this occurs, Social Security calls it an Unsuccessful Work Attempt.

An Unsuccessful Work Attempt (UWA) is defined by Social Security as:

An unsuccessful work attempt is an effort to do substantial work in employment or self-employment which was discontinued or reduced to the non-SGA level after a short time (no more than 6 months) because of the individual's impairment or the removal of special conditions related to the impairment that are essential to the further performance of work.

In order to be considered an UWA, however, there must be a significant break in the continuity of the person’s work (at least 30 days between jobs). There must have also been another significant change to have taken place that would end work attempt: “…the impairment or the removal of special conditions related to the impairment that are essential to the further performance of work causes the work to be ‘discontinued’” as defined in DI 24005.001D.2. This must be proven to Social Security so that it does not count against the claimant. If a claimant missed a lot of days or work, did a poor job, or relied heavily on coworkers because of his or her disability, these would be factors of an UWA.

Social Security has different criteria for the varied amounts of time of a claimant’s UWA, which you can read about here: https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0424005001. Overall, it is important to remember that a work attempt cannot be considered an UWA by Social Security unless it was ended because of a disability or accommodations for a disability were taken away.

Trial Work Period

This is an option for Social Security Disability Insurance claimants only. It does not apply to SSI. Social Security defines the Trial Work Period as:

A beneficiary receiving Social Security disability benefits may test his or her ability to work and still be considered disabled. We do not consider services performed during the trial work period as showing that the disability has ended until services have been performed in at least 9 months (not necessarily consecutive) in a rolling 60-month period. In 2011, any month in which earnings exceed $720 is considered a month of services for an individual's trial work period. In 2012, this monthly amount remains at $720. (please visit http://www.ssa.gov/oact/COLA/twp.html for more information regarding how Social Security comes up with this figure)

There are several factors to keep in mind regarding the Trial Work Period. First, if a claimant is working and making under $720 per month, they can still be considered disabled and this does not trigger a Trial Work Period. Along those same lines, if a claimant continues to earn over $720 per month consistently for nine months over a 60 month period, Social Security will re-evaluate the claim and possibly stop benefits if they feel the person is well enough to return to work permanently.

When the Trial Work Period ends, the claimant enters the 36 month re-entitlement period, or “Extended Period of Eligibility” (EPE). During the Extended Period of Eligibility, Social Security may continue claimant’s benefits in any month that his or her gross earnings were not at the SGA level.

Conclusion

Much credit should be given to a disabled individual who wants to return to work. Contrary to popular belief, most people who receive disability benefits want to work and will return to work if it is possible. Because Social Security understands this, these regulations exist to protect disabled people from losing the benefits they are either fighting for or have already won, in case the return to work is unsuccessful.

Written by Anna Westfall and Attorney Andrew November