Can I Receive Workers’ Compensation and SSDI?

Many Maryland employees who get hurt on the job sustain injuries that allow them to seek workers’ compensation benefits. For some of those workers, their injuries are so severe that they also qualify for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) payments. If you are in this situation, or if you believe you are likely in this situation and want to seek both workers’ compensation and SSDI benefits, it is important to understand how these benefits impact one another. In other words, you should be asking: can I receive workers’ compensation and SSDI at the same time? The answer is usually “yes,” but the amount of workers’ compensation benefits you receive could reduce the amount of your SSDI payments. Our Maryland workers’ compensation and disability benefits attorneys can explain.

Determine Your Eligibility for Workers’ Compensation and SSDI Benefits 

Before you start to assess how workers’ compensation benefits could impact your SSDI payments, it is important to determine your eligibility for both workers’ compensation and SSDI payments.

To be eligible for workers’ compensation, you must work for a covered employer (this is typically true for most workers), and you must have suffered an on-the-job injury that can be defined as an “accidental personal injury arising out of and in the course of employment.” If you meet that definition, even if you only need to receive workers’ compensation benefits for a few months, you can usually be eligible for medical coverage, payment for lost wages, and certain disability benefits. In other words, the Maryland workers’ compensation system does not require you to have a disability that is so severe that you are permanently disabled or that you will be away from work for a markedly long period of time.

To be eligible for SSDI benefits, you must first be able to show that you have enough work credits (that you have worked enough hours over the years, and recently enough) to qualify for SSDI. Second, you must meet the definition of a disability used by the Social Security Administration (SSA). The SSA says you must have a disability that prevents you from engaging in substantial gainful activity for at least one year, or your condition must be so severe that it is expected to result in your death.

How Workers’ Compensation Impacts SSDI Payments 

If you are approved for both workers’ compensation and SSDI, you can receive both at the same time.

However, the total of both payments cannot be more than 80 percent of your average current earnings prior to your disability. If the total does come out to more than 80 percent of what is calculated as your average current earnings, then your SSDI benefits will be reduced down to that amount.

Contact a Maryland Workers’ Compensation and Social Security Disability Lawyer 

If you were injured at work and sustained an injury that also qualifies you for Social Security disability benefits, it is essential to work with an attorney to understand how your workers’ compensation benefits and SSDI payments will impact one another. One of the experienced Maryland workers’ compensation lawyers at the Law Offices of Steinhardt, Siskind and Lieberman, LLC can speak with you today to learn more about your circumstances and to help you seek compensation through the Maryland workers’ compensation system and by filing an application for SSDI benefits.

Source:

ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10018.pdf