It may seem ridiculous when administrators of a disability program don’t require evidence of disabilities or even consider medical evidence of a claimant applying for disability, but that is exactly what Social Security does on occasion for its Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program.
Many people, who navigate through the Social Security disability process for the first time, are unaware of the agency’s technical rules related to its disability programs and those who remain unaware can be blindsided when a disability claim fails to get off the ground.
Although the main objective of a Social Security disability claim is to provide evidence to Social Security that shows someone is disabled and unable to work at a fulltime level, many times a claim doesn’t even get that far because a claimant is earning too much money from work.
Work related income can hijack an SSDI claim faster than you can say disabled. Social Security has come-up with its own rules about its disability program, and regardless of whether we agree with the rules, we must follow them.
Social Security has set a standard of gainful employment. That standard is anyone who works and earns $1,070 or more a month in gross income from work-related activity. This is Social Security’s definition of Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA) and anyone working at or above SGA levels does not meet Social Security’s technical rules of the SSDI program and is not entitled to any SSDI benefits regardless of diagnosis of conditions.
So, to make things as clear as possibly, no one earning $1,070 or more in gross income from work will ever be found disabled by Social Security and the agency won’t even look at a person’s medical condition if this is the case.
To learn more about Social Security’s technical rules click here.
