Should You Apply For Social Security Disability if You Recently Lost Your Job and Have A Disabling Condition?

When the 2008 financial crisis hit, MANY people who lost their jobs and had disabling medical conditions applied for Social Security Disability. In fact, there were so many applications that wait times for hearings eventually increased by more than a year. Many claims lost but many succeeded. To get an idea about your chances, let's start with the basics. The rules are complicated but the easiest, though not entirely complete way to look at it is – can you work on a full time sustained basis at any job that you either did in the past or are qualified to do? The first big hurdle when you just got laid off is that presumably if you hadn't gotten laid off, you would have kept working and therefore, by definition you could still do one of your old jobs. But it's not completely that simple. If you have been scaling back at work before being laid off or if your employer has provided you with accommodations for your disabilities before you were laid off, this can make a big difference in helping you win your claim. Also, the older you are the easier it is to win your claim (in some circumstances that we can discuss in detail if they apply to you), especially if you are 55 or older. If you are under 55, and haven't had to scale back or have accommodations it could be harder to win. But that doesn't mean you won't. If the information in your medical records support your claim and your medical providers are willing to offer opinions about your impairments, those can also be helpful. Another thing to keep in mind – and this is often the hardest part for folks to hear is that most people are denied at the first two levels and have to go all the way to the third level, an administrative law judge hearing. From application to hearing this process can often take up to two years or even more – and if applications spike again as they did in 2008, even longer waits can be expected. If you do ultimately win, you may be entitled to backpay for the time you waited, depending on the date that your disability is determined to have begun.