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SAYING THIS WILL KILL YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY CLAIM

 

WHAT NOT TO SAY TO SOCIAL SECURITY

 

So, you’re trying for Social Security disability benefits?

Here are things you can write or say that will nearly always get you rejected:

1.    I stopped working due to any reason besides disability.  Some common mistakes would include:  getting laid off, my employer’s business closed, I lost my transportation, or I stayed home with a sick family member.  None of these are disabilities and Social Security will not pay a benefit for them.  When you say one of these, your case has died.  

2.   My employer fired me.  The question is, why did you get fired? If you were fired for absenteeism, doing sloppy work or arguing with the boss, it is not helpful to a disability case.  However, if you were fired due to poor health and difficulty performing your job duties, it can support your case for disability.  If you frequent absences were due to sickness or medical/mental conditions, it may help your case, if you can prove it.

3.   My job didn’t pay enough.  Or, I quit to look for a better job.  Obviously, quitting your job for any reason besides disability (being too sick or injured to work) will not qualify for benefits.

4.   I stopped working to go back to school and get better skills.  Again, clearly not a disability.   

Under the law, you are entitled to a Social Security disability benefit only if you have a severe, medically determinable impairment which will prevent you from working for a period of 12 straight months or more, OR is expected to end in death.  You are also required to have worked recently enough to have acquired the minimum number of work credits.

Social Security disability benefits are notoriously difficult to get.  The rules are very strict and demand extensive medical proof of disability. Most applications are denied initially and again at the first appeal.  Most claims that eventually get paid go before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) at the second appeal and the claimants are represented by an experienced disability lawyer / advocate.

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For a free disability consultation with no obligation contact:

THE FORSYTHE FIRM    HUNTSVILLE, AL    PH (256) 799-0297 

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