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Overview of Social Security Disability Benefits
When you have been unable to work for 12 continuous calendar months because of a physical or mental condition, you may be entitled to social security disability benefits based upon your prior earnings or those of a deceased spouse. The benefit is one you earn based upon premiums you have paid into the system while employed. The amount of the benefit will depend upon the total premiums you have paid over the years. The law currently requires you to show earnings in twenty of the forty calendar quarters before you became disabled (or 5 years of employment out of the prior 10 years).
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A Two Step Analysis to Determine Disability
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There is a two-step analyses which the Social Security Administration and the independent administrative law judge use to determine whether your conditions qualify for a finding of being disabled. The first step looks at whether your conditions meet or exceed a set of standards listed for impairments, which regardless of your age, education or work experience, would justify finding you disabled. If your conditions themselves do not qualify you as disabled, the next step is to examine your remaining physical and mental capacity to perform any work at all. This is called your "residual function capacity" and is combined with other factors like your age, education and prior work experience. All of these factors are compared to a grid system to determine whether you can be found to be disabled.
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