Maximizing the Financial Resources Available to You
You can apply for Social Security Disability benefits while still doing some work. But it’s tricky because Social Security will ask whether the work you’re doing shows you can maintain regular, substantial employment despite your health problems.
If they decide the answer is yes, you’ll be denied disability benefits.
This puts you in a difficult position. Your medical condition may prevent you from working and earning money like you used to, but you may still need some income for food, housing and medical care while Social Security decides your disability claim.
You have to strike a careful balance to survive today and preserve your access to vital financial assistance for the future.
Working part time does not automatically disqualify you. Social Security looks at the full picture, including:
- How many hours you work
- Whether you make more than a certain amount each month
- What the job requires physically and mentally
- Whether you need extra breaks or lighter duties
- Whether coworkers help you complete your work
- How often you miss work or leave early
- Whether you work more slowly than other employees
- Whether your employer gives you special accommodations for your impairment
- Whether you could keep the job without extra support
Social Security may also consider whether you pay disability-related expenses that allow you to work.
When it decides if you make too much money for disability benefits, it may reduce what it counts as your earnings because of those special costs you have.
Social Security can also factor in whether an employer pays you more than the actual value of your work because you receive extra help, have fewer responsibilities or produce less than other workers.
The important thing is to explain the full story. A pay stub shows how much you earned. It does not show the pain you worked through, the extra costs you took on, the help you needed, the shifts you missed or why you could not work more. That has to be documented separately.
You may be looking for new ways to support yourself after health problems took away your ability to work and placed you under financial stress.
Disability benefits provide monthly income, health care access and greater stability. But getting approved can be a long and complicated process.
Social Security requires detailed evidence about your medical condition, earnings, work history and limitations.
The Arizona Social Security Disability lawyers at Slepian Ellexson can make the process easier.
Our Phoenix disability lawyers can review your situation and can help Social Security understand why limited work doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t need disability benefits.
Slepian Ellexson has helped Arizonans since 1978. Our attorneys have more than 50 years of combined experience. We help people in Phoenix, Tucson and across the state.
At Slepian Ellexson, you’ll receive direct attention from a local Arizona disability lawyer, not a faraway national company where your claim may be passed between unfamiliar people.
What Is SGA? How Much Can You Continue Working and Still Get Disability?
Social Security uses a number called the “substantial gainful activity” limit, or SGA, when evaluating how much work you can do and still be eligible for disability benefits.
The dollar limit typically changes every year. As of 2026, the monthly SGA amounts were set at:
- $1,690 for most people
- $2,830 for people with blindness
How Social Security uses the SGA amount depends on where you are in the disability process.
If you are applying for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and your earnings are above SGA, Social Security will generally deny your benefits.
And earning less than the limit doesn’t automatically mean you will qualify. Social Security may still look at:
- Your hours
- Your job duties
- Your attendance
- Your productivity
- Help you receive from other people
- Special working conditions
- Reduced responsibilities
- Disability-related work expenses
- Whether your employer pays you more than the reasonable value of your work
If you’re uncertain about what might happen when you apply for disability benefits, you can talk to the Arizona disability lawyers at Slepian Ellexson for free.
And if you get one of our disability lawyers to work on your claim, you’ll pay no attorney fee until you win benefits.
Get Your Free Claim Consultation.
If You Already Receive Social Security Disability and Start Working, What Changes?
If you already receive SSDI and you work and earn a certain amount, Social Security will put you in a “trial work period.”
You can have nine months of trial work period income in any 60-month period. You can still receive your full SSDI payment during that time.
After you’ve used your trial work time, you enter a 36-month “extended period of eligibility.” You only receive SSDI payments during this period in months when your income from work drops below SGA.
And if your health once again forces you to stop working completely, during the extended period of eligibility you can fully return to disability benefits without having to reapply from scratch.
The SGA rule works differently for SSI. SSI does not have the same trial work period or extended eligibility period as SSDI.
Under SSI, any earnings generally reduce your monthly SSI payment instead of automatically stopping it. But if you earn enough from work, it will cancel out your SSI payments.
It’s important to keep records of your pay stubs, work schedule, missed work days and other conditions in your job related to your health impairments.
You should report your work and income status to Social Security. Failing to report can result in stopped payments or an overpayment that Social Security later asks you to repay.
The Arizona disability attorneys at Slepian Ellexson can review your wages, work schedule and duties. We can help document employer subsidies, accommodations, unsuccessful work attempts and disability-related expenses.
How Does a Trial Work Period Work?
Social Security has programs to let you try working without immediately losing disability benefits.
The Trial Work Period
If you receive SSDI, you can first use your nine-month trial work period to test your ability to return to work.
Those nine months don’t have to be in a row. They can be scattered through a rolling 60-month period. The trial period does not reset if you stop working. It looks at your work over a rolling 60-month period.
You don’t apply for a trial work period. It kicks in anytime your income from a job goes over a certain amount.
The amount that triggers a trial work period changes over time. As of 2026, the threshold was $1,210 in monthly earnings before taxes.
If you’re self-employed, there’s an additional rule. In addition to the income level, working 80 hours a month can prompt a trial work period for a self-employed person.
During those nine trial months, you continue receiving your full SSDI payment regardless of how much you earn.
You must still have a qualifying disability and report your work to Social Security.
The Extended Period of Eligibility
After the trial work period, you get a three-month grace period to continue receiving benefits then enter the 36-month extended period of eligibility.
During this time, Social Security reviews your earnings each month. You can receive SSDI for any months when your countable earnings are under the SGA level.
If your benefits eventually end because you continue working, you can request expedited reinstatement if your health once again pushes you out of your job.
You must make that request within five years, and the medical condition stopping you from working must be the same or related to the one that previously qualified you for benefits.
Social Security may provide temporary payments for up to six months while reviewing the request.
What About SSI?
For SSI, Social Security reduces your monthly SSI payment as your earnings increase.
But it doesn’t count all of your income against you. First it excludes $20 from your total income from working or other benefits you receive. Then it excludes $65 from your earned income.
Then it only counts half of what’s left of your income.
Even if your SSI cash payment eventually stops because you still make too much to keep getting benefits, you may be able to keep Medicaid coverage if you meet the requirements.
The Ticket to Work Program
Social Security’s voluntary Ticket to Work program may also provide job training, career counseling and other employment support.
It doesn’t change the income rules for working and still receiving disability benefits, but it can help you prepare for working to support yourself again.
No matter which program you use, always report changes in your wages, hours, self-employment and job duties.
Keep your pay stubs and records of workplace accommodations or disability-related expenses.
Slepian Ellexson can help you understand which work rules apply to you.
Our local Arizona disability lawyers have helped thousands of people through applications, disability appeal hearings and other benefit issues.
When you’re facing life-changing health problems, let us help you protect your economic stability.
