Social Security Disability is not workers’ compensation, and the difference catches people out. A work injury does not have to be permanent or total to be compensable. Social Security pays only for total disability: benefits require that you cannot do the work you did before, cannot adjust to other work given your condition, and that the disability has lasted or is expected to last at least a year or to end in death. There is no partial or short-term SSD benefit.

Most first applications are denied. A denial is the beginning of the process rather than the end of it, but the appeal deadlines are strict and unforgiving.

Many of our workers’ compensation and personal injury clients are also SSD claimants, and the medical record built in a comp case is often the same record that decides an SSD claim. If you are our client and you are considering an SSD application or facing a denial, talk to us — we will tell you where we can help directly and where you are better served by counsel who does this work full time.

Questions about how an SSD claim interacts with your workers’ compensation case? Call 818-350-2658.