Disability Onset Date

My colleague and fellow social security disability lawyer Jonathan Ginsberg has a good post discussing the disability onset date, and the possibility that social security will approve a claim based upon a different and usually later onset date.  http://www.ssdanswers.com/2010/06/23/what-does-it-mean-when-a-judge-wants-to-change-your-onset-date/.  I recommend it for reading for my readers.

As Jonathan points out, administrative law judges will sometimes offer a later onset date at the hearing, and request that we “amend” the onset date – that is, change the date that we allege the claimant became disabled.  This can sometimes feel like “deal cutting” for claimants, like an insurance company offering to pay a claim for 50% on the dollar.  But as Attorney Ginsberg notes, this offer is usually based upon the ALJ’s reading of the medical evidence/record, a specific medical opinion, or a specific medical test.

Here’s an example:

• Claimant was laid off work on January 1, 2009
• He claims disability due to a back impairment.
• He has inconclusive x-rays, but finally on February 3, 2010 he has an MRI showing multiple level disc ruptures, with nerve root impingement.
•  The ALJ requests an amending onset date of February 3, 2010.

ALJ’s may also request an amended onset date based upon your age, not on the medical evidence.  This one is a little harder for claimant’s to understand, but the basis is this.  The vocational guidelines used in determining whether claimants are disabled take age into account when considering whether “other work” is available.  For example, the ages of 50 and 55 are significant.  So, sometimes an ALJ may offer a later onset date based upon age. 

These are the key issues to consider whether to accept an amended onset date:

• As Jonathan points out, never accept an onset date that is AFTER the Date Last Insured
• There is a huge benefit to the claimant in being approved for disability, regardless of the onset date.   In other words, the money the claimant will receive in the future is much greater than the past-due benefits, which is the amount of course impacted by a more recent onset date.
• A later onset date WILL impact the monthly benefit amount where there is a period of non-working from the time of the alleged onset date to the time of the amended onset date:  the monthly benefit will be LESS because it is reduced by the time of no work.