Social Security Disability: Trying to Work

When you are collecting benefits through Social Security disability insurance (SSDI), you may at some point believe that you can work again, or you may have a desire to try to re-enter the workforce. However, you might be discouraged because of fear that you will lose your SSA benefits, which are often time consuming and hard to get in the first place. The SSA trial work period is designed to allow people who feel this way to try their hand at working without risking losing their benefits for nothing if things don't work out.

How Does the Trial Work Period Work?

The trial work period will allow you to work for up to 9 months during a 5-year period and still continue to receive benefits during the entire duration of the time you are working. The 9 months do not need to be consecutive months. When you work during those months, you must earn at least $720 (as of 2012) if that is to count as one of your nine months. If you do not reach the 9-month mark, the 5-year period rolls forward, and you get to keep receiving benefits until you have worked for 9 months out of 60.

Once you have worked for the nine months, then you can still keep getting benefits for another 36 months of time, as long as your earnings do not exceed $1,010 (as of 2012) in that month. If you earn $1,010 in one month, you won't get benefits, but if you do not earn anything the next month, then your benefits will be paid. If your benefits are stopped during this time, you may apply for expedited reinstatement to get them started again.

It is also important to note that the SSA earnings limits are subject to change annually and are generally calculated after all disability/work related expenses are deducted. For instance, if you need medicine to be able to work, the cost of that medicine can be deducted from your money earned before it is considered whether you are making over $720 or $1,010.

Multiple Trial Work Periods?

The general rule is that each SSA recipient is only going to be entitled to one trial work period. However, when you begin receiving benefits again as part of an EXR (extended period of reinstatement), then something called an initial reinstatement period begins. This is a 24-month period during which you are essentially receiving benefits that you are entitled to because you applied for expedited reinstatement of your original benefits. The 24 months don't have to be consecutive.

After the 24-month initial reinstatement period has ended, you may be entitled to a new trial work period, EPE period and EXR period. This can allow you to essentially take another stab at working.

Extending the Trial Work Period

You must let the SSA know about all of your earnings when you are working while on benefits. Once your trial work period has ended because you have amassed 9 work months out of 60, the very next month, an extended eligibility period (EPE) begins. The EPE is a 36-month period of time in which you are able to get benefits when you do not engage in substantial gainful activity (SGA). If you are working and engaging in SGA (earning over $1,010 per month, as of 2012), then you may not collect benefits for that month. However, if you do not engage in SGA during the month, you can get your benefits.

What Happens After?

After your extended eligibility period has ended, you still have some protection. For the next five years, you can apply for expedited reinstatement of benefits should you cease engaging in SGA for some reason, such as if your disability becoming severe again or because you are terminated or laid off. You do not need to make a new claim for benefits during this expedited reinstatement period as long as your disability is still the same one that you originally applied for benefits for and as long as you actually continue to remain disabled.

Understanding the SSA Ticket to Work Program

The Ticket To Work Program was started after the law called the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999 was enacted. The main basis of the program is to improve the ability of people to return to work after they have been claiming benefits under the Social Security Disability program.Another goal of the program is to help those on disability obtain public and private support or vocational rehabilitation. The person who receives disability is given a ticket that is used for an agency called the Employment Network (EN). Through this agency, services or jobs can be accessed, along with help for those returning to work. The ticket can also be given to agencies within a state that provide vocational rehabilitation, which can include training.

Signing Up for the Ticket to Work Program

Anyone who is disabled and looking for help in returning to work can access this program. However, the disabled person will need to satisfy a certain criteria. After it is shown that the person qualifies, they will be issued a Ticket to Work. The person is now considered a ticket-holder. There are currently over 10 million people who qualify for this program in the United States.

The program is not something that everyone receiving disability benefits must participate in. Instead, the disabled person will contact an Employment Network on a completely voluntary basis, to decide a program that is best for both the person and the Network. It is possible for an Employment Network to decide not to work with a particular person. However, revenue is provided from the government to the EN for those people who remain employed while being helped.

Rules and Regulations for Unearned Income

Keep in mind that the money received through any unearned income is taxed. The unearned income is any income that is received by not working. This can include tax on money received through annuities, rental income or income from a trust.

When looking at unearned income and how tax is applied to it, the SSA has strict criteria on what income will be included or excluded. As all income must be reported, the IRS will exclude unearned income for a disabled person under 65 years of age who is trying to achieve self-sufficiency by using a plan such as the Ticket To Work Program. Therefore, anyone receiving benefits will not have to worry that the unearned money received and used to make themselves self-sufficient will be taxed by the government. However, benefits can be reduced when the person starts to earn an income.

Unsuccessful Work Attempts

In the legal vernacular of the social security administration, an unsuccessful work attempt is exactly what it sounds like: an attempt to begin working that fails. Most commonly, the terms "work attempt" and "unsuccessful work attempt" are used when a person is undergoing his or her trial work period while collecting SSDI benefits.

What Makes a Work Attempt Unsuccessful?

A work attempt is unsuccessful if:

The worker cannot do the job properly because of his or her disability. If there are continual complaints, absences, poor performance or other things that lead to an employer needing to fire the employee, then the work attempt can be classified as unsuccessful.

The worker cannot continue to do the job over long periods of time. If there are machines that are no longer available, if conditions that allowed for a worker to do the job do not exist any longer, or if something else changes that results in the worker not being able to do the job at all long-term, then the work attempt might be considered unsuccessful. Typically, it will be considered whether the person kept the job for less than 3 months, between 3-6 months, or for longer than 6 months.

When a work attempt is considered to have been unsuccessful, that attempt might not be regarded in an assessment of whether you are or are not capable of substantial gainful activity. Therefore, the classification of a work attempt as being either successful or unsuccessful can have a major impact on your continued ability to receive benefits.

Detailed Factors of an Unsuccessful Work Attempt

There are several things the SSA will consider when deciding whether a work attempt is successful or not. They will look at:

Whether the work attempt lasted for six months or less.
Whether you were unable to perform the essential functions of the job as a result of your condition.
Whether you were terminated, reprimanded or otherwise penalized at work due to your inability to properly perform the job due to your disability.
Whether your condition led to an unsatisfactory number of absences that made it impossible for you to perform the work.
Whether adaptive technologies that were allowing you to perform the work became unavailable.

The SSA will also consider any other factors that may have made it impossible for you to actually perform and continue to perform the work you were hired to do.

What If I am Collecting SSI Benefits?

Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is different from Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) because your income can affect the amount of the SSI benefits. It is possible to work and receive SSI benefits.

Social Security applies a formula to your case if you're receiving benefits while working. The first $85 dollars you earn each month is not counted toward your earnings. Social Security then deducts $0.50 of every dollar you earn from your benefits. For example, you earn $500 in one month from employment; the first $85 is not counted, leaving $415. The remaining amount is divided by 0.5, so only $207.50 would be counted against your benefits. If your earnings exceed the limit set by each state, you would not receive benefits for that month.

Work Incentive Program

Social Security also has a work incentive program to encourage a disabled person to become self-supporting. Community-based organizations provide counseling and support to disabled people who would like to return to the work force. Under an approved work incentive program or a plan to achieve self-support, any money used for this purpose will not be counted as income. You can save money for items such as:

Transportation to get to or from work
Tuition, books, fees and supplies needed for school or training
Child care or attendant care
Business supplies to start a business

Social Security must approve any plan for you to become self-supporting. You should contact your local Social Security office for more information.

Vocational Rehabilitation Program

Another method of retaining your SSI benefits while working is to earn income under a vocational rehabilitation program. If you are receiving training and working under a program with vocational rehabilitation, you can continue to receive your SSI benefits until you complete that program. Every state has a vocational rehabilitation office. Yours may be located near your local Social Security office or near your local unemployment office.

More Information

Social Security publishes a document known as the Red Book, which gives detailed information about employment support for people that receive SSI and SSDI. The Red Book is available online as a PDF document, or you can contact SSA to send you a copy.