One of the basic requirements for SSDI – before we even get into requirements about your disability – is that you essentially need to have earned SSDI. Unlike SSI, SSDI is essentially an insurance plan that you pay into by paying Social Security taxes over the year to gain “work credits” that support your benefits. If you run out of credits or they expire, how does this affect your case?
SSDI actually gauges work credits in two different ways by looking at both recent work and duration of work. When gauging recent work, you need to have a certain number of recent credits, but when gauging overall duration, you need to meet lifetime work requirements. This means that when looking recently, credits are typically too old after 10 years, but you may need old credits to meet the other requirement anyway if you are 40 or older when the injury/disability starts.
For a free review of your disability case, call our disability lawyers today at (479) 316-0438.
How Do I Earn Work Credits for Social Security Disability?
SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance) is funded by Social Security taxes. In the same way that retirement benefits and other Social Security funding comes from our Social Security taxes taken out of our paychecks, our work essentially funds SSDI, and it cannot exist without those taxes. As such, SSDI gauges your work credits based on how long you have worked, the full rules for which can be found on the SSA website.
Credits are earned by working and paying your social security taxes, so it makes sense that those who get paid more (and pay more in tax) earn credits faster. For 2024, every $1,730 in earnings gets you 1 credit, and you can earn 4 credits per year (typically seen as 1 per quarter). This means that if you make at least $6,920 per year, you get the maximum number of credits (4). Self-employment income is credited differently, given that self-employed workers pay their worker’s share and employer’s share of Social Security taxes. This number required for each credit changes from year to year and is set by the government.
Workers who have worked full-time for 10 years, for example, would have 40 work credits. This is the number needed for SSA retirement benefits through SSI (Supplemental Security Income). Our SSDI lawyers can always go over your individual record to help you determine how many credits you have.
How Many Credits Do I Need for SSDI?
To get SSDI, you only need to have recently earned about half of what you need for retirement benefits: 20 work credits in the past 10 years. However, it is a bit more complicated because the SSA (Social Security Administration) looks at both the amount of recent work you have done and the total work you have done in your lifetime.
Note that “full-time” work typically equates to 4 credits per year and “half-time” work to 2 credits, though you can definitely earn a full 4 credits in a year of part-time work, depending on your income. To get disability, you usually need at least half-time work (20 credits) for the past 10 years, though requirements are lower for younger workers. Overall, the total duration of work requirement changes based on age but never goes higher than the 40 credits required for retirement benefits.
Recent Work
For recent work requirements, the number of credits needed and the number of years the SSA looks at before your credits “expire” changes based on your age:
- Workers under 24 need 6 credits in the past 3 years
- Workers 24 through 30 need half-time work from age 21 to present, which can shift depending on how old they are at the time of injury. For example, at age 25 you’d need 8 credits in 4 years; at age 27, you’d need 12 credits in 6 years.
- Workers 31 or older need 20 credits in the past 10 years
Duration of Work
In addition, you need to have met a certain level of work in your lifetime. This duration of work requirement can be found in a chart from the SSA telling you the number of years of total work you need to qualify for SSDI. Generally, this number is lower than the recent work requirement until you turn 40.
Looking at some examples…
- Workers aged 30 need 2 years of work (8 credits) overall, lower than the recent work requirement of 18 credits since turning 21.
- Workers aged 38 need 4 years of work (14 credits) overall, lower than the recent work requirement of 20 credits in the past 10 years.
- Workers aged 42 need 5 years of work (20 credits) overall, equal to the recent work requirement of 20 credits in the past 10 years.
- Workers aged 50 need 7 years of work (28 credits), more than recent work requirement of 20 credits in the past 10 years. However, if they worked half time for the past 14 years, they would meet both requirements.
- Workers aged 58 need 9 years of work (36 credits), more than the recent work requirement of 20 credits in the past 10 years. However, if they worked half time for the past 18 years, they would meet both requirements. This approaches the total 40 credit requirement for retirement benefits.
If you are blind, you only have to meet the duration of work requirement, not the recent work requirement. This allows you to rely on work that happened well before 10 years ago, but it still needs to be enough work to meet the requirement.
Do Work Credits Ever Expire for SSDI?
All of this means that work credits sort of “expire” in the sense that you need to have recent credits – usually within the past 10 years – to meet the recent work requirement. However, credits never truly expire, and you can actually rely on older work credits from before 10 years ago if you hope are seeking SSDI after age 40.
All in all, if you worked full-time your whole working life, you will almost definitely meet the requirements. In fact, if you worked half-time for the last 10-20 years, depending on your age, you probably meet all requirements, too.
Call Our SSDI Lawyers for Help with Your Claim
If you need help applying to SSDI or understanding your eligibility, call our SSDI lawyers today at (479) 316-0438.