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Hi, Troy Rosasco from Turley, Redmond, Rosasco, and Rosasco again. I'm a New York Social Security
Disability lawyer and today we're going to talk a little bit about what you have to prove
in order to get Social Security Disability. Well, essentially, there's a legal term they
call "substantial gainful employment". You have to prove that you can't do substantial
gainful employment. Well, who cares about substantial gainful employment? Bottom line
is, you don't understand that term, I didn't understand that term when I first got into
this business twenty years ago. Bottom line is, you've got to prove that you can't do
full time work. That's all. You can't do full time work. That's what substantial gainful
employment is. Now, there are exceptions. There are rules, but let's keep it simple.
You can't do full time work. In addition, you have to prove that you're disability is
going to last at least twelve consecutive months. Now, why is that important? Well,
people call me everyday. They've been in serious auto accidents, they've broken multiple bones,
they're in the hospital, they're in casts, and they say, "I'd like to apply for Social
Security Disability Mr. Rosasco." And I have to ask them, "well how long do you think you'll
be out of work?" And they say, "well the doctor hasn't told me yet." And I said, "well what
do you think?" And they said, "well, I guess at least six months." And I sit there and
I have to say to them, "well if you're only going to be out for six months, you may not
have a viable Social Security Disability claim." In fact, if you're only going to be out three
hundred sixty-four days, one day shy of one year, you don't have a Social Security Disability
claim. You have to be out for twelve consecutive months, or the other sad requirement is that
you have to have a condition that is likely to lead to death. So Social Security is not
going to hold it against you if you've just been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.
They're not going to sit there and wait for twelve months to pass to give you Social Security
Disability. Now there are some exceptions during that twelve month period. Can you work
during that twelve month period, even though you're required consecutive months? Yes. Guess
what that's called? It's called an unsuccessful work attempt, otherwise known as a U.W.A.
Judges love U.W.A.s. Why? You're claiming that you've been disabled for a period of
time. Okay? You sit there and you say to yourself, "you know what? I don't know if I can return
to work or not, but I'm going to give it my best shot. I've got a good work ethic." And
you go back to work. Unfortunetly, two months in to going back to work, you find you can't
do it. Well, when you go in front of a judge, and the judge sits there and sees that you
tried to go back to work rather than becoming disabled, and sitting home, and watching "Oprah,"
and eating Bon-Bons everyday, he's going to give you much more credit than anyone who
goes in there and says, "well, I got disabled, now I want Social Security Disability." Some
people think of Social Security Disablity as a welfare program, some judges do also.
You don't want them to sit there and think that you're lazy. You want them to think that
you want to work. And so, that's the minimum requirements for Social Security Disability.
We're going to talk more about the medical requirements in a later video. My name is
Troy Rosasco. I'm a New York Social Security Disability lawyer. If you have any questions,
don't hesitate to call me. 1-877-NY-DBLAW. Thank you.