ONSET DATE EQUALS MORE BACK PAY FOR YOU

By:  The Forsythe Firm, Huntsville, AL  (256) 799-0297

The alleged onset date or AOD is the date you claim to have become unable to work.  The importance of that is that it establishes the amount of back pay you can receive.  When Social Security accepts your alleged onset date, it is then called "the established onset date" and your back payments will be based on that date.

Like all government agencies, Social Security is being pressured with budget cuts, hiring freezes and the need to save money.  One result is that Social Security adjudicators are challenging alleged onset dates, trying to move the date of disability forward to save money.  For instance, if an alleged onset date can be moved from March 2012 to August 2012, Social Security has just eliminated most or all of your backpay (because of the 5-month waiting period between the onset date and the payment of the first monthly benefit).

 You protect your back pay in two ways:
  1. Demonstrating with medical evidence that you were unable to work since the alleged onset date.
  2. Demonstrating that you have performed no substantial gainful activity since your alleged onset date.  *For a definition of substantial gainful activity see the footnote below.
An experienced Social Security advocate or attorney will be knowledgeable about protecting your disability date and getting you maximum back pay.

*Substantial gainful activity in 2012 is gross earnings of at least $1,010 per month from work or self-employment activities.  The amount is adjusted year to year.

 

 

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