It’s not uncommon for individuals who are filing for disability, under either the title II social security disability or title 16 SSI disability benefit program (or both if their application is concurrent) to wonder if they can receive benefits for partial disability, or if they can receive temporary disability benefits.

In either case, the answer is no. Social security uses a definition for disability, and for the approval of claims, that requires that a claimant be so affected by their condition that they are rendered unable to work and earn what is referred to as a substantial gainful income. For the social security administration, this standard of disability equates with total disability.

That does not mean, of course, that an individual who is filing for disability, or an individual who is actually receiving disability benefits, cannot work and earn income at the same time. In actuality, a claimant can work in either situation as long as their gross monthly earnings do not exceed the allowable limit set for that particular year. However, having said that, an individual who is filing for disability may wish to consider the fact that disability adjudicators (disability examiners at the first two levels of the system, and disability judges at the hearing level) are human beings and very often (or most often) their decisions have a subjective component to them.

That being the case, the fact that a claimant is continuing to work may influence how they are rated in terms of functional capacity, as well as the outcome of a case. This may be even truer when it comes to disability claims that are predicated, for the most part, on mental allegations.

Other Posts

Social Security Disability Eligibility
Filing for Disability
Will I be Found Disabled for Social Security Disability?
Social Security Disability Claim Decisions
Applying for Disability with Fibromyalgia and Fibrofog
Lupus and Social Security Disability Benefits

This post focuses on providing a basic explanation of how the social security disability and SSI disability process works. The post does not address the disability appeal process (typically, when I do this, I focus on the first level appeal, the request for reconsideration, and the second level appeal, the request for a disability hearing before an administrative law judge), but, rather, discusses how claims are typically initiated (by calling a local social security office) and, subsequently, what happens after.

To recap, after a disability application is taken by a social security employee known as a CR, or claims rep, the claim is sent to the disability determination services agency in that particular state (in most states, the agency actually is called DDS, but in other states it goes by the moniker “Bureau of disability determination” or “Disability determination Unit” or “Disability determination division”). Once received at that agency, the case is given to a disability specialist, also called a disability examiner, who will handle the task of evaluating both the claimant’s medical history–via records that are gathered from the the sources that are indicated by the claimant at the time of application–and also the claimant’s work history.

Most claimant’s can easily guess why medical records will need to be obtained from their various treatment sources. However, some may not be entirely clear as to why information regarding their work history and individual jobs needs to be gathered. Well, the answer is simply this: the SSD and SSI disability programs issue decisions that are both medical and vocational in nature.

In other words, to receive disability benefits in either program, the federal government does not require that an individual be completely physically or mentally incapacitated (they must be 100% disabled, but as you’ll see, disabled and incapacitated are not necessarily the same thing). Instead, the social security administration requires that, in addition to lasting a minimum of 12 months, a claimant’s condition must simply be disabling to the extent that they cannot engage in their past relevant work (certain jobs performed within the past 15 years) and, additionally, cannot engage in other forms of work that they might, under normal circumstannces, be able to switch to based on their age, education, and acquired working skills.

To make this type of medical-vocational determination, of course, the social security administration, through the disability examiners who process claims for it in the various state agencies, must be able to A) determine what a claimant’s current physical and mental limitations are and B) must be able to compare these rated limitations to what was required of a claimant in their past jobs, as well as compare these limitations to other jobs for which the claimant might ordinarily be suited to take up.

Other Posts

Social Security Disability Eligibility
Filing for Disability
Will I be Found Disabled for Social Security Disability?
Social Security Disability Claim Decisions
Applying for Disability with Fibromyalgia and Fibrofog
Lupus and Social Security Disability Benefits

Though an individual will usually file a claim for social security disability or SSI disability at a local social security office, the case itself (and by this we mean the evaluation of an individual’s medical records and work history), is not actually worked on by the social security administration. In actuality, a social security office will simply take a person’s claim and then send it off to an entirely separate agency where the case will be examined and decided by a disability examiner.

Disability examiners do not have medical training; but, they are trained to review medical records to look for signs of an individual’s loss of functional ability. For instance, a claimant who applies for disability may allege on their disability application that they have a shoulder injury or pain in their lower back. However, the allegations of such complaints will mean little to a decision-maker unless the medical records that are being read and evaluated actually indicate (or lead the examiner to conclude) that the claimant has loss of function such as, for example, a reduced ability to reach, to lift, to bend, to sit, to stand, etc.

Loss of function, and a claimant’s remaining level of function (known as residual functional capacity) allow disability examiners to decide whether or not a person filing for benefits actually has the ability to go back to work, either in one of their former jobs or in some form of other work.

Obviously, to make this assessment, a social security disability claims examiner needs access not only to a claimant’s medical records but also information regarding their work history. By reviewing the work history, a disability examiner can learn more about the duties and physical and mental requirements of the claimant’s former jobs to determine if they can return to one of these jobs. By reviewing the work history, a disability examiner can also learn if the claimant has job skills that might allow them to perform some other type of work.

Other Posts

Social Security Disability Eligibility
Filing for Disability
Will I be Found Disabled for Social Security Disability?
Social Security Disability Claim Decisions
Applying for Disability with Fibromyalgia and Fibrofog
Lupus and Social Security Disability Benefits

This page addresses the impact of the opinions of treating physicians on social security disability and SSI disability claims. Many individuals who file for disability benefits make the assumption that their own doctor may have a significant on the outcome of their case. And to some extent this is absolutely true. However, the extent of the impact is mediated by several factors: A) Is the case being decided at the disability application level, the reconsideration appeal level, or the disability hearing level; B) Has the claimant’s physician’s provided a medical source statement in support of the claimant’s case, or has the physician simply provided medical records as requested.

As a former disability examiner, I can report that social security disability is dysfunctional in this sense: the opinions of a claimant’s own doctors are typically given scant consideration by examiners at the lower levels of consideration (initial claim and reconsideration), even when the physician provides a detailed objective statement in support of a claim. However, at the social security disability hearing level, a medical source statement or a physician’s opinion provided on a RFC, or residual functional capacity, form can provide a solid basis for an administrative law judge to award ongoing and past due benefits to a claimant.

Other Posts

Social Security Disability Eligibility
Filing for Disability
Will I be Found Disabled for Social Security Disability?
Social Security Disability Claim Decisions
Applying for Disability with Fibromyalgia and Fibrofog
Lupus and Social Security Disability Benefits

If you file for disability benefits from the social security adminstration and get denied, there’s more than a fair chance that, at some point, you’ll have to go to a disability hearing.

Disability hearings are generally where most claimants will choose to seek representation (going to a hearing held by a federal judge and being unrepresented is never a good idea) simply because it maximizes the chances of being awarded disability benefits. Unfortunately, the disability hearing, which is the second appeal level in the SSA disability system, takes quite a long time to get to.

Whereas a disability application can usually be decided in a matter of months, and the first appeal (the request for reconsideration) can usually be decided in an even shorter time, the social security disability hearing, or SSI disability hearing, can two up to two years simply to get scheduled. For this reason, claimants may wish to think carefully about a number of issues that are related to the hearing process. The main issue, of course, is representation. However, another issue is whether or not to accept a video hearing (note: claimants can refuse to have their hearing held by video and may insist on an in-person hearing).

This segment discusses the topic of how to go about choosing a social security disability attorney (this information is equally applicable to the choosing of a social security disability non-attorney claimant’s representative as well).

The information covered in this segment emphasizes the importance of relying on one’s initial impressions regarding a prospective disability attorney. It also, however, underscores the fact that the quality of representation received may not be wholly apparent until the chosen representative has actually been “on the job” for some time.

Other points to consider, of course, when choosing a disability lawyer or a non-attorney representative are:

1. Does the prospective representative focus mainly on disability cases, or is their practice devoted to a number of various specialties? Tip – try to choose a representative who specializes in disability claim representation as such an individual will tend to have greater experience, a higher level of expertise, and, therefore, a better chance of winning your claim for social security disability or SSI benefits.