Out of necessity, applications for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits have always been somewhat complicated.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) only considers people to be disabled if they are unable to perform any kind of substantial gainful activity – not just the work they’re currently doing or have done in the past. For that reason, SSA does not award benefits without thoroughly reviewing an applicant’s education, work history and transferable skills to see if, despite their limitations, they can move to a less arduous occupation and keep working.
Up until recently, that meant applicants had to provide the agency with highly detailed information about every job – even ones they only worked for a few days – in the 15 years prior to filing. For some applicants who changed jobs frequently, that could be a nightmare.
The rules have now changed
As of mid-2024, SSA changed the rules for the better – in three significant ways:
- Work that an applicant started and stopped within 30 days no longer has to be listed as part of their prior work activity. This relieves applicants of the burden of trying to remember numerous “false starts” or jobs that didn’t work out because they simply weren’t able to keep up with the demands of their employment.
- Applicants need only provide detailed information about the past five years of work activity, instead of 15. This reflects the reality that a lot can change in both a worker’s body and an industry in five years – and returning to work that they did 10 or 15 years ago is not as easy as it may sound on paper.
- Numerous occupations that are obsolete or “niche” careers with limited availability have been removed from the list that vocational experts are required to use when determining if an applicant has transferable skills that could allow them to find employment elsewhere. Some of those jobs included things like “reptile farmer” or “canary breeder,” and could easily result in unfair denials.
Despite these improvements to the application process, it’s still not easy to obtain SSDI or SSI benefits. Legal guidance can help.