is sga calculated when earned or payed
 

Hello everyone.
I'm on ssdi and I would like to know how does social security count substantial gainful activity. Do they count the money I earned in a month, or was paid in a month?

As you may know this month is march, it has 5 weeks. I'm kind of cutting it close this month for earnings. I'm past my trial work period so $1000 is my limit.
Normally I earn $187 a week but this month I did some extra work at my job on 2 weekends. It's a union job so I earned all kinds of extra first shift premiums and stuff.

If assuming I earn my normal $187 the rest of month I calculate $1012 being paid to me as 5 checks for the month of march.

If social security only counts when the money was earned then they would not count the first day of the first week or the last day of the last week of march. This would put me back under the $1000 mark.

Please help I need to know if I should try and talk to my boss about letting me of early or or two days this week.

Thanks

I'd play it safe and take a few days off

Here is the meaning straight from the SSD site.

What is Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA)?

We use the term “substantial gainful activity” to describe a level of work activity and earnings.

Work is “substantial” if it involves doing significant physical or mental activities or a combination of both. For work activity to be substantial, it does not need to be performed on a full-time basis. Work activity performed on a part-time basis may also be substantial gainful activity.

“Gainful” work activity is:

* Work performed for pay or profit; or


* Work of a nature generally performed for pay or profit; or


* Work intended for profit, whether or not a profit is realized.

We use SGA as one of the factors to decide if you are eligible for disability benefits. If you receive SSDI benefits, we use SGA to decide if your eligibility for benefits continues after you return to work and complete your Trial Work Period (TWP). If you receive SSI benefits based on disability, we apply different standards to determine if your eligibility for benefits should continue. For details on how we calculate SSI benefits, SSI Only Employment Supports .

We do not use SGA as a factor to determine initial eligibility for SSI benefits if you are blind.