My wife Suzy, who has RSD, was denied SSDI again. Not only was she denied a claim but denied her day to present her case in front of a judge with her attorney present for the first time sinse 2006 when she first applied. In the letter, the judge refused to hear her case, Why? The judge refered us to read the "Order of Dismissal" in which it states:

"The record shows that the claimant has engaged in significant work since his alleged disability onset date. It apppears that the monthly earnings may be sufficient to commence and perhaps conclude a trial work period. Moreover, it appears that the trial work period may have commenced within 12 months of his alleged disability on date, which is impermissible.

The case is remanded to the district office to obtain documention of the monthly wages and hours worked since disability onset date."

I am sure of two things, one--my wife is a female and two- she has not worked sinse 2006, at all ever, I don't think she hasn't, I know for a fact she hasn't. A matter of fact I wish she could work and she would too!!!
One thing I'm not quite understanding about the Order of Dismissal is where it states:

"It apppears that the monthly earnings may be sufficient to commence and perhaps conclude a trial work period. Moreover, it appears that the trial work period may have commenced within 12 months of his alleged disability on date, which is impermissible."

This sounds to me a person who may have had SSDI and was working under the table of sorts, or some manner, because of the wording of "trial work period". Or maybe its a WC case? Or could it be someone who has SSDI is working partime trial basis?

In eitherway clearly SS has denied my wife her day infront of a judge with her lawyer because they've mixed her up with someone else. Monday morning I'll contact her lawyer. If anyone can shed some light or experience on this mess I would surely appreciate it.

jim

It does sound like the paper work was messed up when the judge was reading it....

Hopefully it is a simple fix to get this mistake set right.

Thanks Jo*mar. My fear is even if it's their mistake and they rectify it, it may take another year to get the hearing.

Dear Jim -

Sorry to be so late in opening this thread. It does indeed sound like a nightmare.

Has your lawyer told you that it will take another year to get a hearing? I have to think there's a proceedure for a motion for a rehearing based upon err if filed within 30 days or so of the judge's order. Please check it out.

Mike

Mike, my wife's lawyer told me we have 30 days to straighten it out. All week I've been in contact with my wife's former employer, a very very large defense contractor. What we need to prove is whether pay she received 8 months before she filed for SSDI was short term disability, not hours worked. Her W-2 does not state it was STD but "retirement" instead. We've given the employer her SS#, her company ID number but instead they want her pin number which Suzy has forgotten after 4 years. They are mailing us the pin number just in case we're fakes. We'll use this pin number to aquire accurate records. However, yesterday they did mail a copy of the original letter of benefit sent to Suzy stating she will receive 6 months of short term disability at her full salary dated Jan. 2007. I faxed it to the lawyer hoping that may be enough proof. One other comment told to me from the lawyer who said SS felt that so called short term pay sounded way too much to be STD. Depending how long you've worked for this outfit they will and did pay Suzy full pay for 6 months then she was terminated.

I do have a question. My wife said she does recall, when filling out the application for SSDI, that a question was posed to her wether she was receiving or had received disability pay in which she stated yes. Does any one recall if that is one of the questions asked in the interview or application process, because it sounds like it should be asked in order to avoid this mess which only cropped up now, not at any previous rejections.

I was receiving WC when I applied for SSDI, so I still had income coming in too. I don't specifically remember having to document that, but I must have because I know SSDI knows about my WC because they lowered my backpay, my SSDI amount, and my kids' SSDI amounts to offset the difference (because with all of the above, I would be over the cap of 80% of pre disablity income on my SSDI amount.)

Hi Jim,

I posted on this thread before and truly feel so bad that you and your wife are going through all this BS....I don't want to repeat but I was just approved withing the last 3 months, it took almost three years and did not have to go in front of a judge either. I had a attorney just as you do. When a problem or situation came up his office took care of it since he is the one who will get his payment direct from SS. The only thing I had to do was read the papers agree and sign. I don't understand why you have to do all this work. Outside of providing him with the proper papers he needs he should be fighting for your wife.....If don't mnd me asking what state do you live in? In our state, short term disability is through the state in almost 90% of the cases only some companies have private short term disability. The disability is taken right out of your paycheck from the day you begin to work....

In my experience with attorney's some are very, very good and some I wonder how they even passed the bar exam....Maybe leaning on your attorney might just get some speeder results....

Truly I wish you guys the best!!!

Gabbycakes

Hi Jim,
This is beyond inexcusable..
Can you contact your local congressman/woman to help you unravel this terrible bureaucratic mistake, which is keeping you and your wife's lives on hold!
Don't give up
Hope4thebest

Yes, I'm contacting her lawyer first and for the 3rd time Congressman Connally. If this moves along slowly then I'm going to submit all my wifes medical records and SSDI files to local reporters here in Washington and if that fails I may submit to foreign reporters to show others in the world how the US federal government treats their very sick citizens after paying insurance for 30 years. We no longer have insurance because of the way our system rids those who are sick and unemployed. Even though I'm employed the employer can no longer offer coverage. Medicare is what my wife needs for coverage and to prove to furture doctors that she is disabled with RSD not some drug seeking slug. Sorry about the rant hope4thebest.

I got denied 3 times via mail... and when i was first filing i think i was still trying to work part time... they never used that as a reason for denying me. it was always because i was so young (20 when i started applying) and because i wasn't blind... once i got to the trial stage, it didn't take very long at all to get the hearing, i initially went in by myself... but the judge said i should get a lawyer.. and reset the case for 6 months later. my lawyer thought i'd have issues winning because of my age as well, but as soon as the judge asked me how my life was pre rsd and then post rsd... i pretty much started balling after the first sentence. I had also written like a 5 page statement describing what kind of a person i was pre and then post and how my life changed and stuff... but as soon as i was able to spit out enough words the judge said off the record that there was no way i was losing. and even still... i've been working part time for the last year since i started getting my ketamine infusions and the trial work period is only i believe 6-9 months... granted you have to show that you make enough to support yourself, which i don't, so they still haven't taken away my ssd. my ssi payments they have, but that wasn't even $200 a month.. i don't make enough for them to decrease the ssd monthly checks. and even if they were to eliminate them due to making too much money, i'd still be able to get the medicare/medical. and if there came a time in which i needed to stop working again i'd be able to get the monthly checks started back up again because with rsd its perminant disability... so they don't ever take it away and make you start all over again. good luck tho. i know its a hard thing to deal with... but at least once its won you get back pay from the time you initailly filed, and its such a great feeling of triumph once they see things your way. i'll keep my fingers crossed for u!