I filed for disability in 2001 and have not worked since. I recently received a favorable decision-the judge said I was disabled from 2003-now they say I do not have enough credits. I ahve worked and had plenty of credits now they say all I can get is SSI-did I lose my credits since I have been off work since December of 2000 AND the judge just gave me a favorable decision in 2006 but said I was disabled since 2003? thanks
–Tana

Jonathan Ginsberg responds: Tana, thank you for your question. I think that you need to find out more about your earnings account with Social Security. In order to qualify for SSDI (disability) you must have enough earnings to be "insured" for SSDI. For most adults, you must have 20 earnings credits over the past 10 years.

Every year, SSA publishes a table setting out how much you must earn to gain a "credit." For 2006 you needed $970 for one credit, $ 1,940 for two, $2,910 for three credits and $3,880 for four credits. You can earn only four credits in any calendar year, however, your earnings do not need to be spread out of the year – if you earned $3,880 all in January, 2006, you would be covered for the year.

For 2007, $1,000 earns you one credit, $2,000 – two credits, $3,000 – three credits, and $4,000 – four credits.

I set out the earnings and credit requirements on a special page of this blog.

Because SSA looks at your earnings over a rolling ten year period, you need to find out two dates – the date you were first insured for SSDI and the date you were last insured for SSDI.  If your disability commenced within this date range you would qualify for SSDI.

I sometimes see a situation where a claimant stops working but waits several months or even years before filing and SSA uses the date of the application filing as the "onset date" instead of the date that the claimant stopped working.

In other cases, which may be what happened here, the judge will change the onset date to a date where he feels that the evidence supported your disability. If a judge proposes this in a hearing, I always ask for a brief recess to discuss the consequences before accepting the change. I have also seen judges issue partially favorable decisions with changed onset dates.

You have the right to appeal a favorable or partially favorable decision if you want to argue for an earlier onset date. Because these calculations can be somewhat tricky, I would strongly advise that you seek an experienced disability lawyer to discuss your options in this regard.

[tags] title II disability, social security disability earnings requirement, date last insured [/tags]