| Workers' compensation and social security disability insurance (SSDI) benefits both aim to help disabled individuals by providing funds for income replacement. Though similar in purpose, the programs diverge in their criteria for the receipt of benefits. Eligibility for workers' compensation benefits requires that the individual be an employee who was injured on the job. In contrast, SSDI benefits are only issued to those individuals who are so severely disabled by a medically determinable impairment that they cannot engage in any substantial gainful activity. Additionally, to be declared eligible for SSDI benefits, an individual must have worked long enough to be "insured" and must not have reached a certain age.
Conceivably, there can be some overlap in the entitlement to benefits under both programs. For example, an employee who suffers such a crippling injury on the job that he can no longer perform his current work or any other gainful activity could potentially seek benefits under both programs. The receipt of concurrent benefits is not prohibited. However, the programs will offset each other and limit the total amount received.
Just as there can be overlap between the programs, there is also the possibility that in some instances an injured individual will meet the workers' compensation eligibility criteria, yet be denied SSDI benefits. This can, in large part, be due to the SSDI program's definition of "disability." A worker's injury, such as the loss of a finger, is generally a disabling impairment. Such an injury suffered on the job would allow for the receipt of workers' compensation benefits. However, it would not ordinarily rise to the level of a "disability" under SSDI standards because the loss of a finger does not necessarily preclude a worker from engaging in any substantial gainful activity. Copyright 2010 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. |