HOW TO LOSE YOUR DISABILITY CASE

It's really easy to lose your Social Security disability case. In fact, the government will help you lose. But to win, you have to plan carefully, execute fully and perform maximally. It takes no effort to lose but lots of hard work to win. Here are some of the things that will almost guarantee a denial of benefits.

1. Failure to complete and return the Function Report in a timely manner. Another problem is that claimants often fill out the Function Report but don't put much time or thought into it. They complete it the way I used to complete my homework in the eighth grade: just enough effort to say I did it, without much care to what it said or how accurate it was. Didn't work for me, won't work for you.

2. Failure to complete the Work History Report. Most people see the Work History Report as just another annoying form. They either throw it away or fill out the top page and leave the rest blank. Why is that a problem? Because you have to show that you cannot perform any of your "past relevant work." To prove that, Social Security needs to understand your past work and how difficult it was. They must know how much sitting, walking, standing, bending, kneeling, crouching, crawling, lifting, etc. that you did in each job. Most claimants find this form terribly confusion. They don't know how to fill it out, so they leave most of it blank. This is a sure invitation for a denial of benefits.

3. Working after you claim your became disabled. The date you claim to have first become disabled is called the "Alleged Onset Date" or AOD. "Disabled" means "unable to work." So, if you became disabled on a certain date, you should not be able to work AFTER that date. Let's say, for example, your AOD is June 15, 2018. You are saying you became unable to work on June 15, 2018. But if you have wages AFTER that date, you are obviously no disabled. At least, that's how Social Security judges will look at it. So, working after your alleged onset date can kill your claim.

4. Quitting work for any reason besides a serious medical problem (disability). Remember, that SSDI is a disability insurance program. It doesn't pay for anything else. It will not pay because you got fired, lost your transportation, the factory closed, all the jobs moved to Mexico, or you had to stop working to care for a sick family member. Those are not disabilities. One of the first questions the judge will ask is, "Why did you stop working at (name of employer)? If you say, "I became unable to perform my job because of my impairment," you have a claim. On the other hand, if you say, "My mother had a stroke and I had to stop working to take care of her," you do not have a claim. Social Security only pays for your personal disability, defined as having a serious medical condition that make sit impossible for you to continue working.

5. You are not able to do any of your past work; however, you are under the age of 50 and could do other kinds of work (whether or not you can find other work). A good example would be a 43 year-old individual who worked for the last 17 years in law enforcement. The job required standing, bending, lifting, running--all things that the claimant can no longer do because of a bad back. However, because he is under 50, Social Security may say that there are other, easier jobs in the national economy that the claimant could perform. They may try to argue that he could be a ticket taker, a parking garage attendant or a night watchman, all of which are much easier jobs. If this is the case, the regulations will find the claimant not disabled and benefits will be denied. If the claimant's impairment is truly so bad that he cannot perform any work, even unskilled sit-down jobs, evidence must be presented to show this. And it's a very difficult burden to meet.

Disability lawyers and advocates are trained to look at a case and decide the best way to prove disability. Untrained, inexperienced individuals have little hope of proving a case. It's always worthwhile to get a representative who knows how to win cases.