HOW TO GET THE MOST PAY FOR DISABILITY

The Social Security Act allows individuals to collect benefits from the date they became disabled. Yet, the benefits can't be determined or paid immediately. Therefore, there is usually a considerable time gap between the date disability begins and the date benefits are paid. The claimant is entitled to recover payments for that gap in time--often referred to as "back pay."

The amount of back pay is determined by two things:

1. Proving the beginning date of disability. This date is often NOT the date you apply for benefits. Social Security calls this the "Alleged Onset Date," which is the date the claimant believes that disability started. Once Social Security investigates agrees with this date, it become the "Established Onset Date," or EOD. Benefits are paid back to the EOD, minus a 5-month waiting period. It is, therefore, vital that the claimant choose the earliest possible onset date (AOD). Factors to think about when you choose an onset date for your application:

• When did you stop working? In many cases, this is your Alleged Onset Date. You are not working at Substantial Gainful Activity unless you earn $1,310- per month or more (before withholdings). So, the date you first became unable to work may be your onset date.

• When did your disability require you to reduce your hours of work, so that you dropped below $1,310, even if you kept working part-time and earning less than $1,310 er month? This may be your Alleged Onset Date.

• Finally, when does your medical record show that you first had severe medical conditions that meet the Social Security definition of "disabled"? The fact that you stopped working on a certain date is not enough. You must prove a medical disability which required you to stop working on that date.

2. The second factor is the date of your application for benefits. You can wait 12 months from the time of disability to file an application without losing benefits. But onset dates may only go back a maximum of 12 months prior to the application date. Thus, if disability began February of 2020, an application must be filed by February 2021 in order to protect all benefits from the past.

EXAMPLE: Betty's medical condition became so severe that she had to stop working on February 13, 2020. She was seeing her doctor at that time and the doctor documented severe medical conditions which made Betty unable to work. She thought she would soon be better, so she waited a year to file her disability application. She filed on February 1, 2021, a year after she stopped working. She can recover benefits back to February 2020 by proving she was disabled at that time, thus adding 12 months of back pay to her recovery.

The 5-month waiting period is really an elimination period. Social Security cannot pay the first full 5 months of disability under an SSDI claim. Thus, if a person's Established Onset Date is June 10th, the first month that can be paid is December. (July through November are used to satisfy the waiting period and no benefits are paid for those months).

So, practically, a claimant cannot receive a check for at least 6 months after the start of disability. That check which becomes due on December won't be paid until January, so 6 full months will pass since disability began. There are no exceptions. Therefore, I highly recommend all workers take out short-term and long-term disability plans at work, if they are offered. This allows you to eat and pay bills while you wait on Social Security disability, which at best, is a slow, slow process.