Workers’ compensation offers an extra financial cushion if you incurred an injury at work. But if you receive it, it’s important to understand how it interacts with Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits if you also receive those.
The money you receive from workers’ compensation or certain other public disability benefits can trigger an offset that can reduce how much you receive in SSDI.
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Why workers’ compensation can reduce your SSDI check
SSDI has a limit on how much you can receive from the program. If you’re receiving both SSDI and workers’ compensation or some other public disability benefits, the cap for the combined benefits is 80% of the “average current earnings” before the disability, according to the Social Security Administration.
In other words, workers’ compensation doesn’t automatically make you ineligible for SSDI. However, you can end up with lower benefits if you have a high workers’ compensation.
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Not every disability benefit triggers the offset
Workers’ compensation and qualifying government disability benefits will continue to the upper limit before you receive SSDI, but not every disability payment counts toward the cap. Disability income from private sources like private pensions and other benefits cannot reduce SSDI.
Social Security provides specific examples of disability payments that will not contribute to the limit, including Veterans Administration benefits, Supplemental Security Income and certain state or local government benefits when Social Security taxes were withheld from the worker’s earnings.
It’s also important to keep in mind that “average current earnings” is Social Security’s calculation rather than a reflection of your most recent paycheck. Your earnings history will play a role in your limit.
What to do if your workers’ compensation payment changes
Recipients should report any changes to their workers’ compensation payments to the Social Security Administration, including when workers’ compensation concludes. You should follow the same procedure with other applicable public disability benefits since they impact your SSDI amount.It’s just as important to report lump-sum disability payments promptly, as they can still impact the limit.
The deduction isn’t forever; it concludes when you reach full retirement age. At that point, SSDI turns into regular Social Security benefits, and you are not allowed to take out SSDI and regular Social Security at the same time.
An SSDI award letter will detail how much you can receive, but earnings history, workers’ compensation payments and other details will influence the actual computation.