Anyone who has been involved in a Social Security disability case has probably come across the term Substantial Gainful Activity. This blog is an attempt to explain what SGA is and how it impacts a Social Security disability case.
As it relates to Social Security disability, SGA is the amount of money someone earns from doing work. A misnomer about the Social Security disability process is that you can’t work at all and still qualify for benefits, this is not reality.
The Social Security Administration uses SGA to gage whether a worker meets the technical rules of its programs. In 2013 anyone earning less than $1,040 per month worth of gross income from work could potentially be considered disabled by Social Security as long as medical evidence supported the fact they could not work and earn more than that. All fulltime jobs, even those earning minimum wage, and some high-paying part-time jobs can exclude workers from Social Security disability benefits despite their medical conditions.
Most years Social Security increases the allowable SGA amount workers can make and still meet the technical rules of the Social Security disability process, but there are some exceptions. From 1980 to 1989 the monthly allowable SGA amount stayed consistent at $300 per month and from 1990 to 1998 the SGA amount was $500. Since 2001 SGA has increased every year except in 2011 when it remained $1,000 from the previous year. For 2014, Social Security has announced that SGA will increase to $1070 per month.
The only exception to this information is for those who are disabled and blind. The Social Security Act specifies a higher SGA amount for blind individuals. For 2014, the SGA amount for blind individuals is $1,800 per month.
For more information about SGA please click here.
