Ask Larry

Should I Not Get Both My Disability SSI And My Disability Pension?

Can my disability SSI be deducted from the disability pension from the company. My disability SSI is being deducted by the company disability pension is that not unconstitutional and arbitrary.
Should I not get both. Disability SSI and disability pension from the company.
Pl reply

Hi. I assume you mean that you're receiving Social Security disability (SSDI) benefits. Receipt of a private or employer based disability pension would not affect the amount of a person's SSDI benefit, although SSDI benefits can be fully or partially offset if the disabled individual is receiving Workers Compensation or certain public disability benefits (PDB). PDBs are disability benefits that are based on a person's work for a federal, state or local agency where the work is exempt from Social Security taxes.

Assuming that your disability pension is a private or employer based policy, almost all such policies have provisions requiring covered individuals to apply for SSDI benefits. And then, if the person qualifies for SSDI the policies provide for a dollar for dollar reduction of the disability pension. in other words, the disability insurance policies are intended to supplement the person's SSDI benefits up to the amounts specified in the policy.

Whether or not the company paying your disability pension can reduce your payments by the amount of your SSDI benefits depends on the provisions of your individual policy, so you'll need to read your policy and/or check with the company that's paying the pension.

Best, Jerry

Posted: 
Oct 12 2021 - 12:13pm
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