According to the Social Security Administration, about three in ten applicants for Social Security Disability Insurance are denied benefits for non-medical reasons. The most technical, non-medical reason for initial denial of a claim is lack of work history documentation needed for eligibility.
Your disability representative can help you avoid these paperwork errors by collecting work history data and detailing all of your previous responsibilities.
Work history is an important factor in SSDI applications, as it can make a difference in qualifying for disability based on the type of work you’ve done in your past and how it will affect eligibility for SSDI benefits. Most importantly, you must have worked long enough and recently enough to be eligible to apply for SSDI.
Recent SSA data in the Annual Statistical Report on SSDI showed that more than 700,000 technical denials were issued in 2008. The federally mandated insurance program that taxpayers and employers fund is used to provide monthly income to those who have experienced a severe disability and are unable to work for 12 months or longer, or those with a terminal condition. In 2008, 2.2 million applicants supplied information necessary to apply for SSDI. Out of those applicants, 700,000 received technical denials based on non-medical issues such as lack of documentation and insufficient work history details.
Work history documentation should include dates of employment, company details, but also all duties performed and work performed that you cannot do now, among other helpful details to help support your disability claim.