Working While Applying for Social Security Disability Benefits

Hi. This is Lew Insler from Insler & Hermann, and today we’re going to talk about working while applying for, or receiving social security disability benefits. We feel our clients are better off financially and emotionally if they’re working. We never tell a client not to try to work, as long as their doctor approves, and a full answer as to whether or not you can work, depends on the specifics of your case. But generally, the following holds true. You can work at a level below what’s called Substantial Gainful Activity, and the amount for that changes each year, and still pursue your claim or continue to receive benefits. During the claims process, you can work up to three months in most cases, and six months under limited circumstances regardless of your earnings, and still use the original date of disability. That’s called an Unsuccessful Work Attempt, and it may actually help your claim.

Working After Winning Disability Claim

After you have been found disabled, you’re entitled to a Trial Work Period of up to nine months of an unlimited earnings, and those months don’t have to be consecutive. They can be within the first five years of your disability, after which any month in the next five years, where you make more than the Substantial Gainful Activity amount, you’re no longer entitled to benefits for that month. After those five years end, any month above Substantial Gainful Activity ends your entitlement to ongoing benefits. If you’re self-employed, it’s more complicated than just how much you were earning. Pensions, disability benefits, and other sources of wage replacement, do not affect your benefits. However, workers compensation might. The total of your social security disability and your workers compensation, can’t go over 80% of your past earnings.

By: Lew Insler

Legal Philosophy

One thing probably a lot of people don’t realize about me is, I don’t drive a Mercedes, I don’t drive a BMW, I drive a pick-up truck. I like to deer-hunt. My hunting buddies are my uncle and my dad, and we spend every Saturday during hunting season in the woods, and my wife calls herself a hunting widow because of that. My name is Chris West, and I’m from North Carolina.

Spent just about all my life here in North Carolina. I’m the son of a 20-year veteran of the air force. And although military families normally have to move around quite a bit, the military was very nice to us and allowed my dad to stay stationed at Harpop air force base for the majority of his career. What makes me want to get up in the morning and go to work is, it may sound kind of corny and say, “Well, I want to help people.” But through the years of me doing this, that is what it’s all about.

Area of Practice

With this sort of work you’re dealing with peoples lives, you’re dealing with people who are in need of medical care, that are in pain, they just want the pain to go away. And you’re dealing with people who are out of work, and they don’t have a way to pay for bills. They’re worried about putting food on the table for their family. And that’s what my job is to do, is to make sure that while they’re recovering from their injury, they’re getting the care that they need, and at the same time they’re provided that income they need to support their family. There is this misconception by some people in the public, but mostly by insurance companies as well, that these people that are injured are just sitting on the couch and drawing a check, and that they like that. But that’s not the truth at all.

These people want to work, they want to get back to work, they want that good feeling that comes from getting back to work. My job is to make sure they get that care that they need so they can get back to work as soon as possible. People who have a workers compensation claim, someone who’s injured, I think it’s important that they seek help. Because the purpose of workers compensation is to make sure a person gets care, and they get back to work. And that’s what we’re here for. We are here to help people get their lives back.

By: Chris West

Proper Steps to take to Avoid Social Security Claim Errors

Hi. I’m Lew Insler from Insler & Hermann. We’re going to talk about the most common mistakes we see with Social Security Disability claimants and when you should retain an attorney. The hardest part about a Social Security Disability claim is the initial application and the daily activity questionnaire. They come at the beginning, so get the attorney involved from the start to help you deal with the hardest part of your case, the most stressful, and the time when you have the most questions. Also, we win the initial claims at a far greater rate than the national average. The percentage of cases that are won at the later stage, particularly at the hearings, has also decreased. So you’re maximizing your chances of success by having us represent you right from the start and helping you with your initial claim.

By: Lew Insler

Legal Philosophy

One thing that might surprise my clients to know about me is I’m very interested in music. I grew up singing. I grew up playing the piano. At one point I learned to play the guitar a little bit and I like to duck hunt. I’m a big hunter as you can tell when you look around my office. And I also like to fly airplanes. Our practice is statewide and so I use the plane primarily for business to get back and forth to court, to depositions and things of that nature. My name is David Stradley, I grew up in Statesville, North Carolina.

I went to school undergrad at Wake Forest and the law school at Duke. Graduated from Duke in 1995 and I’ve been practicing law ever since. I am the managing partner of the firm but I spend most of my time doing insurance bad faith litigation. So, I’m most of the time engaged in client matters, working with clients, trying to get information from defendants in order to prepare cases for trial. What really motivates me about this job is helping folks. Helping folks solve problems because that’s what we do as lawyers, we help people solve problems.

What Clients Can Expect

Frequently we’re up against the biggest law firms in the country and some of the biggest corporations in the country. And what we find is particularly in our insurance bad faith cases is that they have policies and procedures that are unlawful, that are not legal under our laws in North Carolina because they are designed to prevent the insurance company from paying what they owe. People don’t buy policies to be underpaid. They buy policies to be paid fairly. So, when I get up most mornings I’m focused on finding the information that allows me to prove that these companies are doing these things they’re not supposed to be doing. It’s a great challenge but it’s a great motivator as well. One thing that’s important for our clients to understand is that they can trust us to guide them through this process.

When clients come to our firm they can know that we have assembled a very high quality team of folks to help them with their case and help them solve their problem. We bring a double-barreled approach with both high quality pre-trial legal work as well as high quality trial work. We have the trial skills to bring it home but we have the pre-trial skills to do the homework and to make the case so that we can present it to a jury in a persuasive manner. I love being in front of 12 people and a judge and presenting our case in the most effective way I know how to do it. It’s a lot of hard work. It’s 16, 18 hour days but it’s what we do and it’s what we love doing.

By: David Stradley

Why Should I Review My Award Notice?

Reviewing the award notice that you get after a favorable decision is probably the single most important thing that we do. The award notices often contain errors. They can misstate the amount of time you are entitled to retroactive benefits. They can be wrong on the amount of benefits you’re supposed to get going forward, due to things like workers compensation offsets, and they can forget to discuss your auxiliary benefits – benefits that you are due for dependent children. Reviewing those records is something that we do very, very closely in order to maximize your benefits.

By: Lew Insler

Worker Compensation

Have you been hurt in an accident at work? Not sure what to do? The law offices of Kelly and West are here to help. Getting hurt at work can raise a lot of questions and change the relationships you have with your boss and coworkers. You’ll be having conversations with the human resources department. You may receive phone calls from your employer’s insurance company. It’s natural to want to answer their questions. But be careful. You might be giving up your rights.

Kelly & West Experience

Make your first call to the law offices of Kelly and West. We can make sure you get a fair deal to cover your medical bills and other expenses. We know you need proper medical care so you can get back to work and keep providing for your family. Worker compensation laws are in favor of the employer. Don’t lose out on your right to the compensation you deserve and the medical treatment you need. Call us today for a free consultation of your workers’ compensation case. Let us protect you.