Work can both help and hinder Social Security Disability eligibility

I’m a Bob’s Burgers fan.  That said, I’m an amateur who has only watched the full series once all the way through.  I follow a Facebook® group of serious Bob’s Burger’s scholars.  What I’ve learned is that the show has maintained some remarkable consistencies throughout all 16 seasons and even the movie.  This despite the fact that, like any sitcom, one has to suspend disbelief to enjoy the plot twists and reconciliations.  Bob, the titular character, is more passionate about making creative burgers and giving them names that require wordplay on the ingredients than in being a hard-headed businessman.  As a result, the family is frequently short on money and in debt to their landlord who IS a hard-headed businessman.  That consistency requires suspension of disbelief when the family always finds the money at the 11^th hour.  Fictional universes, which often don’t adhere to the rules of real life but nevertheless have internal consistency, turn out to be an apt analogy for government programs.

Take for example the nature of the Social Security Administration’s disability benefits for adults, defined as people who have attained the age of 18.  As I’ve discussed before, people must be found “disabled under [SSA’s] rules” to receive these benefits AND a key element of the “rules” requires that the claimant’s impairment(s) are “severe” enough to prevent her/him from performing work that is “Substantial” and “Gainful”.  This requirement may seem to imply that people who are applying for disability benefits or who need to maintain eligibility for these benefits, are better off not working.  Parents of youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities may be particularly concerned about paid employment because they are aware that their young adult children are unlikely to work at a fully self-supporting level and will always require disability cash benefits as a supplement.

In fact, it is not only possible but desirable for people with disabilities, including those with intellectual and developmental disabilities, to work if they have the capacity.  Of course, there are the non-financial benefits of employment.  Paid employment can be a source of accomplishment and continued growth, which sustains self-esteem.  The workday provides structure and physical and mental activity.  The workplace can offer relationships and social interaction.  And then, of course, there are the financial benefits of paid employment.  For the most part, people who receive disability cash benefits and work are better off financially.  Let’s look at a few reasons why.

When people who develop disabling impairments early on, or are born with them, apply for Social Security disability benefits at age 18, they generally have little or no work history.  As a result, they are eligible only for Supplemental Security Income (SSI), which is the type of cash benefit available to low-income people who have disabilities or who are aged 65 or older.  SSI does not require that a person has accumulated any Social Security “credits” (formerly called “quarters of credit”).  SSI was designed to be a safety net to keep recipients with a roof over their heads and food on the table.  We can debate outside of this blog whether the current maximum payment of $994/month even begins to cover those expenses in urban and suburban areas.  From the “safety net” rationale then comes the rules the require SSI payments to be reduced for any other income the recipient has.  Unearned income reduces SSI payable dollar for dollar after the first $20 and earned income reduces SSI payable by 50 cents on the dollar after the first $65 (or the first $85, if there is no unearned income).  If you follow the math, you can see that an SSI recipient is better off financially when s/he works because the earned income more than compensates for the SSI reduction.  For example, a person who earns $1,085/month and has no unearned income would see her/his SSI reduced by $500 to $494/month.

While a person is working and receiving SSI, s/he is also accumulating Social Security credits.  For 2026, a person accumulates one credit for every $1,890 in gross earnings up to a maximum of 4 credits in the calendar year.  A person is required to have 40 Social Security credits before s/he can file for retirement benefits but may be “fully insured” for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) with less credits if s/he is young.  Generally speaking, for filers between 24 and 31, the SSA calculates the maximum credits (at a rate of 4 per year) that the person could have earned between the age of 21 and whatever age they are at the point of filing.  For example, a person who files at 26 could have accumulated a maximum of 5 X 4 or 20 credits.  If s/he has 10, s/he is insured.  Filers over 31 must have at least 20 credits accumulated within the 10 years prior to their filing.  Filers under the age of 24 require 6 credits earned within the three years prior to their filing date.  So, a 23-year-old, who files in January of 2026, must have a total of 6 credits acquired between January 2023 and December 2025.  A person with a disability, who has been receiving SSI and then accumulates enough credits for SSDI, then begins to receive that benefit.  Since SSDI is unearned income in the SSI calculation, the SSDI payment reduces SSI payable dollar for dollar.  Thus, depending on the size of the SSDI payment—which is based on the person’s average indexed monthly earnings—and the current monthly earned income, an SSDI recipient may or may not continue to receive some SSI.

The rules for SSDI differ from those of SSI.  Generally speaking, as long as the SSDI beneficiary does not begin to perform “Substantial Gainful Activity”, s/he remains eligible for her/his full SSDI without the reduction for earned income that would have applied to SSI.  The Substantial Gainful Activity level is $1,690/month for 2026.  So, a worker who is eligible for $1,200 of SSDI and has earned income of $1,600/ month would continue to receive her/his full SSDI payment.  SSDI recipients also become eligible for Medicare after 24 months.  For beneficiaries who do not have access to employer-sponsored health care, this provides additional economic value.

Social Security Disability operates in a universe where applicants must demonstrate significant deficits in their capacity for employment to be eligible for benefits in the first place.  At the same time, the rules do not preclude a recipient from being or becoming employed and, in fact, employment can lead to earning credits, which can lead to higher disability benefits as well as higher overall income and valuable health insurance.  This creates a kind of paradox within the Social Security universe.  The capacity for employment can both hinder and help the situation of a person who applied for or already receives disability benefits.  The fact that the employment must be contained within a certain range of monthly earnings provides for the reconciling consistency.  If Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano stopped by the Bob’s Burgers restaurant for a bite, Bob would probably cook him the “Substantial Grainful Festivity” burger of the day.  It’s a half pound of beef on a whole grain bun with smiley face fries on the side.