SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION Unsuccessful Work Attempts and Expedited Reinstatement Eligibility
10/18/16
From the Federal Register Vol. 81, No. 200 Monday, October 17, 2016
SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
20 CFR Parts 404 and 416 [Docket No. SSA-2014-0016] RIN 0960-AH66
Unsuccessful Work Attempts and Expedited Reinstatement
Eligibility
AGENCY: Social Security Administration.
ACTION: Final rules.
SUMMARY: These rules finalize the rules we proposed in our notice of
proposed rulemaking (NPRM), published on May 11, 2016. In these rules,
we remove some of the requirements for evaluation of an unsuccessful
work attempt (UWA) that lasts between 3 and 6 months, allow previously
entitled beneficiaries to apply for expedited reinstatement (EXR) in
the same month they stop performing substantial gainful activity (SGA),
and provide that provisional benefits will begin the month after the
request for EXR if the beneficiary stops performing SGA in the month of
the EXR request. These changes will simplify our policies and make them
easier for the public to understand.
DATES: These final rules will be effective November 16, 2016, except
for the amendments to Sec. Sec. 404.1592c and 416.999a, which will be
effective April 17, 2017.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kristine Erwin-Tribbitt, Office of Retirement and Disability Policy, Office of Research, Demonstration,
and Employment Support, Social Security Administration, 6401 Security
Boulevard, Robert Ball Building 3-A-26, Baltimore, MD 21235-6401, (410)
965-3353. For information on eligibility or filing for benefits, call
our national toll-free number, 1-800-772-1213 or TTY 1-800-325-0778, or
visit our Internet site, Social Security Online, at http://www.socialsecurity.gov .
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On May 11, 2016, we published an NPRM in the Federal Register at 81 FR 29212 in which we proposed to revise our rules to simplify certain aspects of our UWA and EXR policies and make them easier for the public to understand. We are adopting the proposed rules as final rules.
The final rules at 20 CFR 404.1574(c), 404.1575(d), 416.974(c), and
416.975(d) remove the additional conditions that we used when we
evaluated a work attempt in employment or self-employment that lasted
between 3 and 6 months and use the current 3-month standard for all
work attempts that are 6 months or less. Under these rules, ordinarily,
work you have done will not show that you are able to do substantial gainful activity if, after you worked for a period of 6 months or less, your impairment forced you to stop working or to reduce the amount of work you do so that your earnings from such work fall below the substantial gainful activity earnings level. The new rules at 20 CFR 404.1592c and 416.999a allow a previously entitled individual to request EXR in the same month they stop performing SGA. These new rules apply to Social Security
Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
claimants and beneficiaries. We expect these changes will result in
simplified case processing and faster and better determinations and
decisions.
link to full Federal Register report: https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2016-10-17/html/2016-24873.htm