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

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

Construction Injuries in Ohio

We were just talking about the importance of work in terms of a personal injury case. I want to transition now and talk to you a little bit about another type of case that I know that you handle quite a few of, and that’s construction accidents.

As a guy who’s out walking around Chicago, and driving around city streets during the summer months, I see construction projects everywhere. A lot of these projects they’re assembled fairly quickly, and a lot of times there’s a lot of– there’s a rush to get a project done, particularly before the fall.

In these particular types of cases, where you have these skilled construction workers who are out there busting their behinds to earn a living. In these type of cases, if someone is injured on the job – they’re working on a busy construction site and they’re injured on the job – from a legal perspective, what type of benefits does the law in Ohio afford them when it comes to seeking recourse for their injuries?

Worker’s Compensation Benefits

Anyone in Ohio that’s injured in the course and scope of their employment can get worker’s compensation benefits, which primarily, it’s fairly major too, and it’s sad to say it’s been cut down as we’ve gone on through the years, because of where– well, I’m going to say it – Chambers of Commerce favor the business people, and the business people got the money, and they got the lobby, and so the worker– the benefits that they once had, don’t have what they used to have. They can get paid partially their wages for the most part. While they’re healing up, they get medical care while they’re healing up – of their own doctor. I know there’s some legislation that they’re thinking about if you’re gone on too long, you’ve got to switch to a worker’s comp doctor.

If you’re making $24 an hour, you’re only going to get part of your wages paid, because it’s capped at about $800 a week here in Ohio. You’re going to get medical treatment, but you’ve got to go through a managed care organization to get that approved, so there’s all these kind of hoops– it’s a battle. Then there’s some small benefit if you’ve got a permanent impairment, you get impairment award.

Can You Sue Your Employer

Ultimately you can settle your case. You can’t sue your employer. Everybody for the most part– the employer’s not always done something negligent, but done something a little bit that contributed to it, and then they treat the employee pretty crappy but unless they fire you, the retaliation for firing a worker’s compensation claim– or they intend to hurt you, like putting a gun to your head. We don’t have the ability– it’s a trade-off, they’re immune from a lawsuit.

Third Party Claims

What you look for, and I know that you do this too, is there an independent third party that caused the accident? Were you on the job as the electrician and the pipe-fitter from another company dropped a pipe down on your head, then you actually now have two claims – you have your worker’s compensation claim – now you have a claim for pain and suffering, the rest of your lost wages, loss of enjoyment of life – that could be as valuable, or even more valuable. The two of them together– you don’t get to double-dip in Ohio.

Back in the old days you used to. By that I mean, if worker’s comp pays you something, that you get compensated for the third party claim, we have a formula you’ve got to pay that back. That’s why I like to manage both cases, I do both, I don’t ship one out. I want to know what kind of evidence is created, what’s going on in both cases. You can manage both cases to the benefit of the claimant. That happens in the construction industry. It happens to the Federal Express driver that’s rear-ended in a car accident. He’s hurt while driving around. He’s got a worker’s comp claim. He’s got a third party claim against the car– at the person who caused his car accident. Their complicated, as you know also.

Yeah, it sounds like basically every single work-related injury should at least be looked at by an attorney with an eye towards potentially pursuing a third party case. Is that pretty much a safe blanket statement to say?

Yeah, definitely. You really do want to see if there’s someone else. It can’t be a co-employee, that doesn’t count because that is construed to be an employer, so if you’re coming out of a parking lot and your co-employee rams into you, you probably in Ohio only ever have a worker’s compensation case. But if it’s the guy from the other business next door that hits you, even though that you’re in the parking lot, those are interesting cases. You may be leaving work, but if you haven’t been out of the zone of employment, so to speak, in Ohio– again it gets complicated. You can have a worker’s compensation claim, as well as a claim against a third party for their negligence, your pain and suffering, your loss of enjoyment of life, the rest of your medical wages that weren’t compensated for.

By: Anthony Castelli

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