The Pros and Cons of Seeking SSD and Workers Comp

If you’ve been receiving Social Security Disability (SSD) benefits while injured at work, can you still file for workers’ compensation? What if you’ve found yourself needing to apply for both Social Security Disability and workers’ compensation at the same time when you’ve never received SSD before – can it be done?

Yes, the simple answer is, yes, you can receive SSD benefits and workers’ compensation files simultaneously in appropriate cases.

However, Social Security Disability benefits will only be approved if the impairment from your work-related injury is severe enough and expected to take a year or longer for you to recover from. It can be incredibly beneficial to those who qualify, especially when severe disability resulted from or was made significantly worse by a persons’ injury at the workplace. Despite programs like Social Security Disability and workers’ compensation being two entirely separate programs, there are some considerable ways that they can interact and affect one another:

In some cases, receiving both Social Security Disability benefits and workers’ compensation benefits can result in a lowered benefit amount for a persons’ SSD payments – otherwise known as an “offset.” If and when someone finds themselves in need of receiving both types of benefits, the “offset” may feel trivial compared to the advantages of receiving benefits at all.

Other cases, however, may find seeking both benefits at once might pose some difficulty if they aren’t being represented by the right attorney. For example, issues can be found with the documented timing of a disability and, as a result, may negatively impact a workers’ comp claim.

While either scenario has its pros and cons, both situations can be greatly alleviated by this one fact: having an attorney that specializes in not one but both Social Security Disability benefits and workers’ compensation benefits are extremely advantageous. It is where our team at   Kenton Koszdin Law Office, Social Security Attorney in Van Nuys, comes in. Contact us today at (800) 438-7734 to schedule your free and confidential consultation.