I'm on SSDI & working P/T

Hello everyone,

I am on SSDI and am working at a local grocery store, around 15 hours per week. The good news: I just got a transfer within (promotion) and I start next week. I am very excited about it! My boss is now wanting to know what days & hours I'm available to work, and I'm trying to figure it all out.

I have had a traumatic brain injury after my brain surgery, which makes learning new things extremely difficult for me. So, I'm a little worried that I might not do very well trying to recall the terminology that I need to learn. (There are a few little complications actually, but that's not what this post is about.)

The thing is that I need to work at least 35 hours bi-weekly, in order to pay my bills. However, I am afraid that if I do work 35-40 hours bi-weekly, I will lose my SSDI. I cannot afford to lose it ~ AND I know that I can't handle working any more than P/T. When I have worked more hours, things haven't gone well at all for me. I got very sick emotionally and/or physically fast & was hospitalized.

So: How do I balance learning a new job, paying bills, being a mom, and staying healthy all at once?

my suggestion is contact your SSI case worker. they will let you know how to do this with out losing your SSI. They might even be able to refer you to a life skills program that can get you set up with someone that can go through each of your problem areas and help you to manage them. your case worker can look at your ssi case and show you how to break down your bi weekly work into how many hours a week you will be able to do. they can also make changes to your SSI as in which system you are on,.... regular, ticket to work program and so forth.

Figure out how much you can make on a paycheck. I'm on SSDI and I work 18-20 hrs a week and I'm ok

The answer to this is pretty straight forward. Look up what you are allowed to earn monthly. Then simply don't earn more than that in any given month. Do that and you'll be fine. What you need to pay your bills has nothing to do with what you need to calculate. My friend dId that and lost her SSDI. Don't foolishly think, "But I need to earn more!" Earn what they allow you to earn.

I just found a link for you, but I don't know how to copy it on my new phone. The amount I found is $1180 per month. (It generally goes up every few years.)

My source: DisabilitySecrets.com

Yeah I work 16 hrs a week and I don't make over the limit

If you do too much work or make too much for a short period of time and it's just too much, let SS know. Sometimes we bite off more than we can chew. They know that. So if it's less than 3 months you might be okay.

The OP needs to research this. You are only allowed up to 80 hours a month, and earn less than about $1180 a month. Now, there is more to this. You can make an unlimited amount of money for the first nine months. Then the clock starts ticking. Every time you earn above $1180 a month, you do not get your benefits for that month. Otherwise, you will get your benefits. After three years, whether you have been working or not, then you enter another phase. I forget what this is called, but it allows for rapid reinstatement of your benefits without you going through the whole application process again.

Now if you make something like $840 or less, none of this will happen. So you need to decide if it is worthwhile to keep earning $1180 a month and forego your period of unlimited earnings, and the running down of the clock over the following three year period. However, for people who know they will never work more than 80 hours a month and never make more than $1180 a month, and instead just stay on disability the rest of their lives, then all of this may not be an issue to them.

I have seen that even if SSDI thinks that you can make over $1180, they can remove you from disability. What I am saying is that you have to know what you are doing. You are taking risks if you do not. You do not want to inadvertently prove to them that you are capable of earning more than $1180 a month or more. This would be foolishness. For example, if you were to go to back to college, you can lose your benefits. They think that if you can hold down a college curriculum, you are ready to be taken off of disability. I have seen one person that earned over $1180 for just one month, and did this by accident. It was some work with her benefits specialist to resolve this problem. SSDI can be sticklers for this type of thing.

I would urge a person to see a SSDI lawyer brefore considering to work part time. This is what I did. It was the best $150 that I have spent concerning this issue. Now for the most part, I understand the issues involved with SSDI and working P/T as it applies to me. Please do not take my word for anything. Only believe what your lawyer tell you.

Here are some examples. Do you know that if you make allot of money through investments, perhaps dividends from stock, you get to keep your disability? This is even the case when this income well exceeds over $1180 a month. When I liquidated my bonds, I made $20,000 in profit. No problems from SSDI. This is considered unearned income. SSDI is interested in tracking only earned income.

I was thinking of renting a room to my mother. Relax, this is to get around a technicality in the law. The amount I would charge would be considered unearned income. I would be doing no additional work to get this income. Now what happrens if I do the laundry for her and myself? How about clean up the house? Including her room? I read that the court ruled the monthly rent would still not be considered earned income. The laundry and cleaning would happen even if my mother was not there. My friend is thinking of giving me over $20,000 a year on a monthly basis. It is an arrangement that we may have. This will not affect my disability since it can be considered unearned income. I will be doing nothing for him. (I did try to convince him that he should put me to work)

Why am I saying all of this? I am showing you that SSDI law is not necessarily a simple thing to understand

PS I have learned from a visit to SS office that SSDI is more interested in the hours work than the amount earned. However, I suspect this would be at their discretion. Also, there is an official guide called the “Red Book”. You can google for it. You will find there the rules about this topic which SS follows.

There's a number of ways of hiding income from SSDI, which why I'm in federal prison.

I know a guy who gets a LOT in Ssdi and also makes thousands each month under the table......

It's just wrong.

I called and they said I could make $1,000 a month before it was affected. That equals out to 25-30 hours a week. I rarely get more then 22 hours a week. I probably won’t be recertified though when it comes up in a couple years.