Hi I’m Sharon Christie your nurse attorney for social security disability benefits. When you go to a social security disability hearing there are many questions that you will be asked. Certainly, you will be asked about sitting, standing, and walking.  

Specifically, you’ll be asked about how far can you walk, how long can you sit comfortably, how long can you stand comfortably. And some follow up questions to that. So, why is that important? Well, you have to remember that the purpose of the hearing is for the judge to get more information about you and your problems. And then make a determination as to whether there is any type of job that you can do. Now there will be a vocational expert at your hearing who will talk about work you’ve done in the past and answer questions from the judge and from your lawyer about how limitations will affect your work in the future.

So where does sitting, standing, and walking come in? It becomes important in determining what exertion level you’re capable of. So, for example for someone who has no problem sitting, can stand for several hours in an eight-hour workday, can walk for several hours in an eight-hour work day. That would mean there is really no limitation in terms of those activities that would affect your ability to work. On the other hand, if you have someone who has let’s say has had multiple back surgeries and they haven’t worked. This is somebody who can only stand for ten minutes at a time, can only sit for thirty minutes at a time, can only walk 150 yards, and needs a cane to do that. That is a very different physical situation. And that is going to eliminate many jobs that would require a lot more in the way of say walking and standing. 

So along with sitting, standing, and walking, we’ve talked about there’s also questions about how much can you lift, how much can you carry? Again, that’s being asked and the judge is looking for that evidence in your file because that determines what jobs you may or may not be able to do. So, if you’re able to lift a hundred pounds and you don’t have any limitations in sitting, standing, or walking. Well, that’s a case where you may base on those criteria alone be able to do heavy construction.  

Now you might have other problems that are going to prevent you from doing that but you have to understand that those physical limitations and information about those physical abilities become very important in determining what types of jobs you may or may not be able to do.  

Hi I’m Sharon Christie your nurse attorney for Social Security disability benefits. Maybe you have thought about applying for disability and say you’ve contacted a law firm. You’ve talked to them about your case and they’ve said well you know we understand you have problems but we don’t think this is a case that’s going to meet the social security standard and therefore we can’t help you with your case. Or maybe you’ve applied by yourself and been denied and you’ve had the same kind of conversation with the law firm you know what happens. What does that mean?  

Well, I will tell you that just like people are recommended in certain situations medically to get a second opinion. I always think that legally you should get a second opinion too if you think that you have good reasons why you’re not able to work and one lawyer may see it one way and feel that it’s not strong enough for a disability case. But I’ll tell you that another lawyer may evaluate the case differently. I know that for myself I have taken cases that other lawyers have said no to and I am sure that lawyers have taken some of the cases that I said no to. You know we all have our own processes for evaluating cases. 

We think those are good processes. I think I use a really excellent process to evaluate our case but that doesn’t mean I’m always right because I know that sometimes I’m not. And so, I may well say no to a case that another lawyer is going to think of a different theory or a different way to approach that case that can be successful. So, I would always recommend that if you’ve had one lawyer tell you now that you should go get a second opinion.

You also want to ask well why don’t you think this is a good case? I know that when we reject a disability case, we always say why we feel from our point of view it’s not a case that we could handle successfully and that’s I think a great question to ask because you want to have a better understanding of what Social Security is looking for. Remember the standard for Social Security disability is do you have severe limitations from your health problems that will keep you from doing your current job or any work you’ve done in the last 15 years or any other type of job even something very easy and that you will not be able to work for at least 12 consecutive months. So that’s a standard by which we all evaluate our cases. 

If you’ve received a no from a lawyer just ask why and then move on and get a second opinion. If you receive multiple notice that I think you really have to look at that and think long and hard about whether it even makes sense to try to continue to pursue a disability case. Ultimately of course that decision is up to you but don’t assume immediately if one lawyer says no that there is no case. Do yourself a favor and always get at least one second opinion.

Hi I’m Sharon Christie your nurse attorney for Social Security disability benefits. If you are thinking about applying for Social Security disability or perhaps you’ve already applied. I know it is a very stressful time and a very stressful process for you before you even get into the application process. You have the stress of your health problems plus the stress of not being able to work and now add it on to that you have the stress of the Social Security Disability process.  

So how can you manage that process? Well, I’m going to tell you that the best way to manage it is to hire an experienced disability lawyer. Now how do I say that because the process itself can be confusing for someone who’s never dealt with it before. It can be very frustrating even for those of us that deal with it all the time and that is just going to add to your stress. You want to be in a position where you have someone you can contact when you have questions. Someone who will handle all of the paperwork for you. Someone who is going to be responsible for gathering all of the evidence that you need to prove your case and you want that person to be somebody who’s not you because you have enough to deal with just handling your health problems.

Now I know this because of all of the clients that I’ve worked with over many years. I understand the stress that they have just trying to do whatever they can to feel better. If you add on to that the stress of this process, it makes the goal of feeling better even harder. So, that’s the first thing you can do.  

The second thing you want to do is just think about what the process entails. Understand it so that you know what’s coming next. That’s where your lawyer is going to come into play and your lawyer staff to help you understand the steps in the process and what happens at each step so that you’re prepared. You also want to make sure that you are keeping your doctor’s appointments and your therapists’ appointments. That’s very important for your case but it will also help you to deal with the stresses because if you find that you are feeling overwhelmed you need to tell your doctor or your therapist and get some recommendations from them as to what you can do to reduce the stress. You know one of the things that you hear from all of the experts for anybody trying to reduce stress is exercise.

Now for many people who are suffering from health problems vigorous exercise is not possible but is there something that you are able to do? Maybe you can take a short walk but for a lot of I know for a lot of my clients that’s not possible. So maybe you want to look at things like just sitting calmly. Some people call it meditation some people call it breathing exercises. You can google those things and you’ll get lots of options and instructions on things that you can do to just help yourself to calm down as you go through the process because the anxiety can really ramp up at times and it’s just going to worsen your other health problems. So, you want to reach out get some help get a disability lawyer to help you through the process. Talk to your doctor. Talk to your therapist to find out from them what are some good ways that you could use to try to reduce your stress or to at least reduce your anxiety and help you to be calm as you go through the process and just keep pushing forward.  

Hi I’m Sharon Christie your nurse attorney for Social Security disability benefits. If you have been approved for disability benefits you may have heard of something called the trial work period and wonder what that is. Well let me explain it.  

Once you’ve been approved for Social Security benefits Social Security will allow you a test period or a trial period if you want to try to go back to work. Now it’s a little complicated the way that it works but these are the basics for every month that you work at any kind of job at all and you earn eight hundred and eighty dollars or more before taxes that counts as having completed one month of a trial work period.

Once you complete a total of nine months over any five-year span so understand when I say a total of nine months that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve worked nine months in a row. You may work three months this year and three months next year and three months the year after that for a total of nine months. Once you complete that ninth month earning eight hundred and eighty dollars or more before taxes well then, you’ve completed your trial work period and then Social Security is going to review your case to see what are you doing how much are you earning all together and do an evaluation as to whether you would be able to return to work or not now.. 

Sometimes people say to me well you know even if I earn over that eight hundred and eighty dollars a month if I’m still under what Social Security calls the substantial gainful activity limit then I’ll be okay. Substantial gainful activity is the amount of money Social Security says if you’re earning that much or more than you’re not disabled okay and that amount changes every year goes up a little bit. But in general, Social Security is definitely going to be looking at how much are you earning. Are you earning at or above substantial gainful activity but they’re also going to be evaluating your entire case to see you know if you might be able to do more?  

So, the trial work period is something that’s available for you to use if you are going to return to work even on a part-time basis. You do need to notify Social Security and let them know that you’re trying to work and what you’re doing and how much you’re earning and they’re going to follow up on that. If you fail to do that when your case comes up for its regular review Social Security is going to know of course that you have been working and if you have been earning above a substantial gainful activity level and they determine that you’re no longer disabled you may actually owe them money. So, it’s really in your best interest to let Social Security know if you do try to go back to any kind of work at all. You do have the trial work period I would strongly suggest if you’re thinking about returning to work or trying it out while you’re receiving disability benefits that you talk to your lawyer or talk to someone at Social Security to go over the trial work period rules again because it can be confusing and you don’t want to put yourself in a position where you lose your disability benefits because you just didn’t understand how it all worked.   

Hi I’m Sharon Christie your nurse attorney for Social Security disability benefits. I was recently asked this question. Once you get a fully favorable decision in your disability case how long does it take to get paid? That’s a great question. 

Now let me address first Social Security disability and then we’ll talk about SSI disability. So, if your case is strictly Social Security disability and you did not apply for and receive any state benefits while you’re waiting for the decision then generally you can expect to receive payments within 30 to 60 days. You will receive your back payment and then the monthly payment will begin. Now remember it’s Social Security everything in terms of payments by the month is a month behind. So, what do I mean by that? Well Social Security is going to calculate your back payment which is different for each person. It depends on when you became unable to work and the date of the decision but Social Security will make that calculation as to how much you’re to receive in your back payment and then for the month following the date of the decision. Then you will qualify to begin your monthly payments. 

So, if your monthly payment starts for the month of January you don’t actually receive that payment until February. So, you just need to be aware of that but typically you’re going to get the monthly payment and confirmation. I’m sorry you’re going to get the back payment and confirmation of when the monthly payment begins within 30 to 60 days of receiving the fully favorable decision. Now in some cases I’ve had clients who while they were going through this process have applied for state benefits called temporary cash assistance or temporary disability. It’s not available to all people it’s an asset-based program so you have to have very limited assets in order to even qualify. If you did receive those payments and they’re generally somewhere between 180 to 190 dollars a month that has to be paid back. So, it’s going to take longer for you to get paid because there has to be a calculation done by the state as to how much money is paid back. That information is transmitted to Social Security Social Security. Deduct that amount from your back payment and then the process continues to move forward.

If your case is under SSI it will take longer because the first thing that has to happen is, you’re going to have to get an appointment at your local Social Security office to go in and provide a lot of financial information so that they can confirm that you are still financially eligible to receive SSI benefits and how long it takes to get that appointment really depends on the local office. Sometimes it can be done very quickly within a week or two of the favorable decision. Sometimes the wait is longer and then once you provided that financial information it’s going to be at least another 30 to 60 days. Sometimes a little longer before the payments actually begin. 

But the good news is you’ve got a fully favorable decision so payments will be starting at some point in the near future for you.

Hi I’m Sharon Christie your nurse attorney for Social Security disability benefits. I’ve talked to a lot of people who suffer from vertigo and it is a very disturbing condition. It may be related to another disease process or it may have come sort of out of the blue. I’ve had a number of people contact me about a condition called benign paroxysmal positional vertigo or BPPV. Maybe that’s a term that you’ve heard in your case so people call me and they want to know. You know can I get disability benefits? I’m having a really hard time functioning day to day and that’s really that’s the question for us.. 

So, when somebody suffers from vertigo, we want to look at what is the cause. Is it a condition say like BPPV? Or is it related to some other disease condition? How frequently do the dizzy spells occur? Now that’s key because if they are very occasional only lasting for a few seconds it is certainly disrupting when it happens but that’s not something that’s likely to disrupt your ability to hold down any type of job. Which is the standard for Social Security disability. On the other hand, let’s say you are someone who is suffering from vertigo that is happening frequently several times or more during the day. That it lasts longer than a few seconds. That it affects your ability to walk. Where your gait it can make you very wobbly because suddenly you feel like everything is spinning or you are just not centered properly and it is very distracting when it happens.

Well, that’s a situation that’s different from the first situation I described because that’s the kind of situation that if you are on the job and you have multiple attacks. That’s what I’ll call it multiple attacks. These dizzy spells throughout the day well that very likely can interfere with your ability to work. 

So, the question that you have to look at first is you know what’s causing the vertigo and then how frequently is it occurring? How long does it last and how disruptive are these dizzy spells? How did they disrupt you in your day-to-day activities?

Say if you’re trying to take care of your house or you need to drive to the store. How are those activities being disrupted? If they are so we look at that very closely to determine how these attacks of dizziness are going to affect you on the job and if it is a situation where you are going to be seriously affected on the job and your ability to do either the job you’ve done in the past or any other kind of work. Then that’s a situation where we could look at a disability case for you.   

Hi I’m Sharon Christie your nurse attorney for Social Security disability benefits. In the office the other day we got a call from someone who wanted to know if working for a union would have any effect on applying for Social Security disability benefits and frankly, I was surprised by that question because it was never anything you know that I had to think about.  

The answer basically is no it’s not going to have an effect. Now you have lots of benefits working for a union and perhaps through your union you are receiving some type of short term or long-term disability. But that’s no different than people that work for non-union companies who have a private short term or long-term disability plan and the fact that you may be receiving some type of disability through your employer or through your union doesn’t affect it at all your ability to apply for Social Security disability benefits.

Now if you are receiving private disability it may ultimately affect the amount of your back payment. From this point of view there may be some payback that you have to give to that insurance company or whoever is paying your long term or short-term disability but that’s something that you need to look at in each case. What you have to do is simply ask for a copy of the plan itself or the policy and review it to see what it says about what happens once you are approved for disability through Social Security. But the fact that you are a union member that you may receive some benefits through your union that will not affect in a negative way your ability to apply for Social Security disability benefits. You absolutely can apply and you should. 

Now I know that some unions provide legal counsel and you know you can certainly talk to whoever the legal counsel is for your union to find out if he or she is somebody who is experienced in Social Security disability and consider them as a lawyer that you might want to retain to represent you. But if they’re not experienced in that field then you want to look for an experienced disability lawyer so you know those are some of the ways that being a member of a union might have an effect on your disability case. But it’s certainly not a negative effect in any way if you’re unable to work and you’ve worked long enough under Social Security paying your Social Security tax and you’re going to be out of work for at least twelve consecutive months because of your health problems. 

Then you want to be putting in an application for Social Security disability. If you have other questions about Social Security disability just leave a comment on this video and I will be happy to address that question in a future video.