
Disability Work Period Determinations Change
More than 1.8 million Americans applied for disability benefits through Social Security programs in 2023. Typically, adult applicants must provide their work history going back 15 years to prove their inability to work.
To qualify for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits you must have a medical condition that meets the SSA’s stringent qualifying disability definition. They want to determine the following five things about the potential disabled candidate:
- If you are working
- If your condition is “severe”
- If your condition is found in the list of disabling medical conditions
- If you can do the work you previously did
- If you can do any other type of work
Based on the answers to these strict questions, it’s obvious why the Social Security’s disability application has a focus on the person’s illnesses and injuries, limitations, treatment, and work history. But having to recall the past 15 year’s worth of details, such as job titles, responsibilities, dates, etc., throughout your employment is challenging.
The agency has been working on changes to improve its disability program, hat will reduce administrative burdens for applicants and help more people with disabilities receive government benefits and services if they are eligible. The steps they have been taking will improve the process and help reduce decision wait times.
“This new rule will lessen the burden and time our applicants face when filling out information about their work history and will make it easier for them to focus on the most current and relevant details about their past work,” said Martin O’Malley, Commissioner of Social Security. “It also improves the quality of the information our frontline workers receive to make decisions, improving customer service, and reducing case processing time and overall wait times.”
New Work History Ruling Announced
Effective as of June 22, 2024, The Social Security Administration (SSA) has considered work tracking back 5 years, instead of 15. Additionally, work is no longer relevant if the job lasted less than 30 calendar days. These simplified new rules make it easier for people applying for their benefits to focus on their most recent relevant work activity while still providing enough evidence to continue making accurate determinations.
With this new ruling, decreasing the relevant work period from 15 to 5 years makes it much easier for people to accurately report their work history. Furthermore, Social Security has also made efforts to modernize the vocational policy used to make disability decisions. Certain types of skills – namely, “manual” skills – can significantly deteriorate in 5 years, as research finds.
Now that disability applicants will only have to fill out the past five years of work history, the time it takes them to fill out Social Security’s work history forms will be reduced. This is a yet another minor step to streamlining the disability application process. An added advantage is that Social Security also receives better quality information earlier in the evaluation process.
Ultimately, reducing a disabled individual’s amount of specific data from the past 15 years to now 5 years will result in a major reduction in processing times, which will get applications approved sooner.
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Contact Lowery Law Group at info@lowerylegal.com or call (843) 991-0733. There is no fee for a free consultation regarding your claim. Lowery Law Group is experienced in handling cases in South Carolina as well as Georgia.