New York Social Security Disability Lawyer Blog

I just came back from the semi-annual meeting of NOSSCR, our national organization for Social Security Disability attorneys. These conferences are valuable not only because we are able to renew acquaintances and contacts, but because it provides an opportunity for us to discuss with other Social Security Disability lawyers from all over the country the problems we and our clients face. In addition, there are always some practical pointers we bring home and use as we represent our disabled clients and answer their questions.

Since our current recession began two years ago a question we get from almost every client is "I am receiving Unemployment; can I still get Social Security Disability?"
The question was raised a number of times at different sessions during the week and I am happy to report that the short answer is "yes".

In 2006, the Chief Administrative Law Judge issued a memo to all the ALJ's reminding them that "the receipt of unemployment insurance benefits does not preclude the receipt of Social Security Disability benefits. [It] is only one of many factors that must be considered."

In addition, some deep thinking lawyers at the conference pointed out that the Regulations state that a person over 50 whose past work was physically demanding is disabled if he or she is now limited to sedentary work. Thus, even if such a person receives Social Security Disability, he or she could be "ready willing and able" to do sedentary work and thus qualify for unemployment compensation (UI) as well!

The same is true for part time work; being "ready willing and able to work," but only less than full time, appears to allow for the receipt of both types of benefits.

Before this meeting, my standard answer had been that since you have to be "ready willing and able" to work to receive unemployment compensation and that is inconsistent with the finding that we are asking Social Security to make regarding disability, you could not receive both at the same time. Yet as a practical matter the Agency and especially the Judges understand the need to get some income, so this has never been a significant problem for my clients. I have not seen any judges find a claimant not disabled until his UI is exhausted, or even deny a claim due to receipt of UI.

But until this meeting I also cautioned claimants that once their Social Security Disability is approved they should advise Unemployment and stop accepting those benefits.

Now I am far more confident that simply receiving UI is not a factor that would disqualify someone from applying for or receiving SSD at this time. Going further, I may even start advising certain clients that they can continue to receive UI after the SSD claim is approved! But being a lawyer, I will point out that this is not black and white and that the view of either side could change over time.

Lew Insler

I just finished getting set up with the Social Security Electronic Filing system. Hopefully, within 24 hours, I will be able to access the claims files for every one of our clients who has a case pending at the hearing level. This is a sea change from the old process where we were forced to wait for a staffer to burn us a CD of the file. Another benefit to this system is that we can see whether submissions made to the hearing office have been logged and processed for ALJ review.

Gabe Hermann

In an article from May 4th on nextgov.com covering technology and the business of government, it was reported that the Social Security Administration is deploying pilot projects to handle the tremendous increase in claims that the Agency has received in the last few years.

As a regular user of the online claims processes, I can see the vast improvements that have been made to the Agency's internet services in the last few years. While the online applications process used to be disjointed and closely aligned to the paper applications, the online application has evolved into a relatively streamlined process that certainly helps prevent the Field Offices from getting totally inundated by the paperwork that was associated with the old, paper-dependent claims process.

Here's a personal example of how the Administration has been streamlining some of their processes:

Just yesterday I reviewed a letter from a Field Office asking that one of my clients come in for a final evaluation of SSI eligibility. The hearing on the issue of disability was less than 10 days ago, and because the process of writing, signing and mailing the decision takes time, we continue to wait for the written decision by the Judge. Yet because it just takes the push of a button, the field office is already setting up a time to meet him to expedite payment of his benefits!

Even as I can laud how the Agency is working hard to streamline the process, I am still less than pleased with the progress made with Video Hearings. While I have done my share of those hearings, I still cannot understand why I get better video resolution and sound using a free online application to see and speak to my friends and relatives abroad than my clients can experience after waiting 12-24 months to be heard by an Administrative Law Judge. The Agency must improve its video conferencing technology before I am totally comfortable with my clients having their hearings that way.

Gabe Hermann

If you have done any sort of financial planning, on your own or with an advisor, Social Security sort of gets thrown in and is then forgotten, a constant rather than a variable. However there are a variety of things that can be done using your entitlement to Social Security Retirement benefits (RIB) to maximize or enhance your retirement planning.

Even though Social Security Disability is my area of practice, I will confess that some of these tools were new to me and I have saved the article I am referencing for my own use, as well as for advising clients. It originally appeared in print in Smart Money magazine and can be found online here.

Beyond pointing you to resources to analyze the well known question of when to take your benefits, and the recently publicized technique of taking early benefits and repaying them in order to then get the highest possible rate at a later age, the article talks about some other benefits that work best when one spouse receives benefits and the other takes his/her benefits on the spouse's account while continuing to work. At a later date the working spouse can switch to taking benefits on their own account without being penalized for the additional work.

Read the article and use its links to understand and implement the strategies. My point here is that your RIB can be used creatively in an overall financial plan to maximize income and benefits.

Lew Insler