Awarded Backpay-but now threatened due to successful work trial
 

All,

After two long years, my husband finally recieved a fully favorable ongoing AND backpay award in May 2010 (Adjudication hearing was in March 2010). Thanks to a new drug that had come on the market, he was in a trial work period at the time of the hearing - that was acknowledged to the judge and referenced in the decision letter.

He still has not received his backpay...each time we have called they say it is still processing.

We notified SSDI in October that he had returned to work full time - and in response they send us a form asking us to explain all of his earnings from the beginning of the disability onset.

We called our lawyer who handled the hearing, and he advised that he had already been paid (which comes straight from SSDI out of the backpay)


Has anyone heard of this situation? We are worried that they are now re-examining his claim - which has already been heard and decided on by a judge.

Not surprisingly, we can't get the caseworker to call us back and we visited the SSDI office and they would not let us speak with her.

Did you ask to speak w/a supervisor or manager? It's what I would have done.

Write a letter & snail mail (certified) to your case worker, "cc" to supervisor, manager & director. Make sure you include your claim number on all correspondence. +

Good luck!

Your husband's attorney was paid based on the amount one receives from SS. I would think you should also call the attorney about this. This amount of time gone by seems out of line. Why should the attorney receive moneys that was never received at all by the claimant? My wife got her positive judgement last Nov 2. She received her monthly check for the first time yesterday but has not received her 3.5 years back pay. The lawyer in her case has been paid. I would also think even if your husband can work now, apparently he couldn't before, thus he still should receive the back pay.

Sounds to me like this is another one of those "SSDI Got You" deals. They probably recommended the work trial didn't they? Your husband being a law abiding citizen went along with it. Now the fact that he is working, they plan to use that to keep his money. The judge probably told SSA to go ahead and pay the attorney to keep him off their back and hold your husbands money because of the work trial. I may be wrong, but I think that if I had been approved, I wouldn't have went back to work until I had my back pay at least. But then again, I don't know anything about their work trials.

It is possible that there is an unresolved windfall offset indicator holding up release of the retroactive benefits even if you never received SSI benefits but filed an SSI claim when you originally filed for SSDI. That is the first thing I would look for. You can call the 800# and ask them if there is such an indicator on the record. If there is, you then need to get in touch with the SSI specialist in your local office who will know what to do to get case moving again.

If the attorney was paid, then you should have also received an award notice laying out the monthly amount due you. Read the whole thing and see if there is a paragraph about holding back your retro benefits because of a prior SSI claim.

With a written decision in May of 2010, you have been patient enough and probably need to speak with a supervisor in your local office. Too bad your husband's attorney isn't trying to light a fire under SSA for him.

As long as you didn't return to work in less than 12 months after onset, there is no reason for SSA to keep his retroactive benefits. There is no such thing as an "SSA Got You" deal.

I would like to know if I am correct so please post back.

Thanks for the replies! The attorney advises that he satisfied our original contract with him....he offered that we were now basically in a blackhole and that he would write a letter for us to SS (for an additional fee) but didn't know if it would be worth it, or what else could be done.

The judge's fully favorable award specifically noted that there were 2 UNSUCCESSFUL trial work periods that were to be covered by the backpay award period....and that he was currently in the midst of another trial work period. He received both backpay and an ongoing award.

We received the letter calculating the ongoing award amount, and it said that the backpay would be sent once they had confirmed that there were no other offsets. But there was nothing specific about SSI, and I understood that to be standard language.

We began receiving the ongoing award, as well as a stimulus check probably 30-60 days later.

We never applied for SSI for him, because of my income and his other resources....but I guess I might as well call and make sure that didn't somehow happen automatically....

What I don't understand is a) why the backpay was held up with no correspondence. Each time we called, we were told it was "processsing." and b) how SSDI staff can re-investigate something a judge has already ruled on.

Since I posted originally, we have confirmation that SSDI is asking for information from his unsuccessful work trial employers about that employment.

How do you get to speak with someone besides the window clerk at the SSDI office? The last time we were there, we asked and were told there was no one else we could speak to....which I knew wasn't true...but other than causing a scene, I didn't know how to get past that.

We are going to have our Senator's office open a constituent casework file on Tuesday...anyone think that will work?

I contacted our congressman long ago about my wife's case and believe he was very helpful.

You don't have to create scene in order to be able to talk to a supervisor. You can be insistant. Bring ALL correspondence that you have with you. Since this is your husband's case, he needs to be there too. I'd go early in the workday. Ask the supervisor what they are going to do and ask for a date to follow up. And follow up every week if necessary. Sometimes these cases involve manager to manager phone calls.

i'm in the same boat as you are they owe me 85,000 in back pay you cannot call the payment center you can fax them only i call ssi once a week they will send over a fax to the payment center for you if you google it you can get the fax number to the payment center good luck what a country

They might find they gave him a favorable ruling in error. That because the medication did work and the claimant was able to go back to work full time the claimant was able to sustain substantial gainful activity. The question imo would be can an agency overrule a courts decision? Unfortunately the attorney doesn't have to make sure you get payment. His job is only to get you a favorable ruling, which he did and deserves payment. Were you working at this time? I am glad your husband is better. Sometimes we have to court our blessings health or money? One more question when he went back to work was it under a Ticket to work program?