Social Security Cuts Down Work History Requirement for Disability Benefits

A Social Security card sits alongside checks from the US Treasury in Washington, on Oct. 14, 2021. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

The Social Security Administration (SSA) reduced the work history that disability claim applicants need to submit from 15 years to five years as part of simplifying administrative processes and enabling more citizens to receive government benefits.

The SSA first published the amended rule on April 18. According to a recent press release by the agency, the update will “improve the application process for disability benefits and reduce the time applicants wait for a decision.”

Beginning June 22, the agency will review only five years of past work because 15 years of work history was “difficult for individuals to remember and often led to incomplete or inaccurate reporting.” Moreover, the agency will stop considering past work which was undertaken for less than 30 days.

Martin O’Malley, commissioner of Social Security, said the new rule lessens the burden of applicants and makes them focus on “the most current and relevant details about their past work,” as well as reducing case processing times.

The SSA administers disability benefits through two programs: the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program and the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program.

For both these programs, the agency follows a five-step process to determine whether an applicant qualifies for disability benefits. The SSA’s assessment of “past relevant work” makes up the fourth step of this process.

According to the agency, the new rules were introduced in response to President Joe Biden’s 2021 executive order that called for “transforming federal customer experience and service delivery.” The government should “work to deliver services more equitably and effectively, especially for those who have been historically underserved,” it stated.

The work history changes were made after the SSA updated its list of occupations used to judge disability claims. When an individual applies for disability benefits, their claim is partially decided based on whether there are available jobs in the market that match their abilities. If there’s a match, the claim is typically denied.

Until this update, the SSA had depended on an outdated list of occupations which included many jobs that no longer exist or have very low vacancy rates. Some of the 114 positions now deleted included, astronomers, geographers, motion picture projectionists, reptile farmers, railroad telegraphers, photoradio operators, and genealogists.

“Our decision makers will no longer cite these jobs when denying a disability application,” said Mr. Martin O'Malley.

Dealing With Overpayments

The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on June 18 about updating and strengthening social security disability programs.

During the hearing, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) highlighted the issue of overpayments made by the SSA to beneficiaries. The SSA requires overpayments to be paid back, which can be a burdensome proposition for people who receive the benefits.

“These overpayment fines can run into the tens of thousands of dollars, which these Americans simply cannot afford to pay,” he said.

“Over the past year, this committee has heard horror stories about everyday Americans getting huge overpayment bills from Social Security, often because of the programs’ inherent complexity or a mistake made by the agency.”

In March, the SSA announced a measure to ease these burdens. Earlier, if the agency overpaid a beneficiary, it would withhold 100 percent of their monthly benefits until the overpaid amount was recovered.

But beginning March 25, the agency only collects 10 percent (or $10, whichever is greater) of the total monthly Social Security benefit to recover an overpayment.

At the hearing, Sen. Wyden said that the SSA has taken steps to deal with the issue of overpayments, including an update on how payroll data is processed so as to reduce overpayments.

The senator pledged to pursue additional steps to “reduce the frequency of these overpayments happening in the first place.”