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Is it possible to file for Unemployment & Social Security Disability Benefits?

Official Transcript for YouTube Video: Can you file for both unemployment and Social Security Disability Benefits.

Hi, I’m Sharon Christie, your nurse attorney for Social Security Disability Benefits. Just the other day I had a conversation with a client about unemployment & Social Security Disability Benefits. So the question is, can you file for unemployment, while you are also filing for Social Security Disability?

Now right now there is no rule, law, or regulation that prohibits you from doing both, but as a practical matter, there certainly are effects that you have to consider when you file for unemployment. You are certifying to your state that you are ready, willing, and able to work and you are actually required to send out resumes and to apply for jobs when you are filing for unemployment. You are telling the Federal Government, I am so sick I am so limited by my health problems that I cannot work and you can see the conflict between those two positions.

Now where this becomes most problematic in my experience is when we get to a hearing because the judge is the person who will ultimately evaluate whether during the time period that you were applying for an receiving unemployment he or she will have to put that in the total context of your situation. Are you a single person with no other source of income and was that your motivation versus you have another source of income. You may have savings whether you might have but you were really believing and intending to work but it just did not work out for you. It can become very tricky and there are some judges who will flat out say, “look if you were accepting unemployment benefits I cannot find that you were disabled at least during that period of time. So it can become very tricky that a conflict would exist if you try applying for both unemployment and Social Security Disability benefits.

It may not be resolved until you get to the hearing and sometimes we have to change what is called the onset date (the date  that you are claiming you became unable to work) so that the period of time that you receive unemployment benefits is excluded. It is a very tricky evaluation so I will tell you that no, there is no easy answer to that question.

About Sharon Christie Law:

Sharon Christie is the owner and founder of Sharon Christie Law, and is an attorney and former nurse. Her team of professionals and paraprofessionals help people win Social Security Disability Benefits! Our Social Security Disability Law Firm serves clients in MarylandSouthern PennsylvaniaNorthern Virginia, and Washington DC.