A common term you will hear Social Security disability insiders refer to is SGA, which stands for Substantial Gainful Activity. This is a standard Social Security created to determine, regardless of someone’s impairments, whether someone can earn enough money to live on, or if they fall short of this amount, should they be considered disabled.
According to Social Security, those who are earning above SGA, which for 2014 is $1,070 per month worth of gross income from work-related activities, are not eligible for Social Security disability payments because they are already gainfully employed.
We can argue all day about Social Security’s assessment that someone earning $1,070 per month is “gainfully employed,” because minimum-wage workers earn more than that, but Social Security’s rules are Social Security’s rules. Some even decent paying jobs would put a worker over the SGA limit just by working on a part-time basis.
Fortunately, Social Security had allowed for Impairment Related Work Expenses (IRWE) that should be considered deductible if a worker is over SGA. The IRWEs are costs that an impaired worker incurs for special services or equipment that are related to a disability and necessary for someone to work. If someone has to pay IRWEs, then Social Security should deduct the cost from their earnings. This can help keep income under the SGA level in some circumstances. Below are some examples of items that SSA may consider to be IRWEs.
- The cost of paying for specialized transportation to get to and from work.
- The cost of hiring someone to help you get ready for work in the morning.
- The cost of hiring a non-impaired person to do part of your job that you are unable to do because of a disability.
- The cost of training that is needed to learn how to use impairment-related specialized equipment needed for your work.
To learn more about IRWEs click here.
