Can Workers’ Comp Be Reduced if I Receive Social Security in Pennsylvania?

Workers often stay on Workers’ Comp benefits for a long time, potentially long enough to start receiving Social Security after age 65.  Workers over 65 might have even had Social Security before their injury.  Additionally, many injured workers rely on Social Security disability benefits at the same time as Workers’ Comp.  If you draw on both Workers’ Comp and Social Security at the same time, do your Workers’ Comp benefits get reduced?

According to the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act, there are rules for how to reduce Workers’ Comp benefits while also receiving “old age” benefits, unemployment, or other retirement benefits.  These rules create an offset for “old age” benefits that will reduce how much you get from Workers’ Comp, but this same rule does not apply to disability benefits paid by Social Security or “old age” benefits you had before the injury.  Additionally, there are important rules to follow about whether you are still willing to work or “voluntarily retired.”

For help with your case, contact the Certified Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Lawyers at Cardamone Law at (267) 651-7945.

Can You Get Workers’ Comp and Social Security at the Same Time in Pennsylvania?

Workers’ Comp is just one of the policies out there that might get you ongoing benefits to cover medical care and lost wages after a work injury.  Some employers give other disability benefits, pensions, etc., that might cover you.  We also have another article about getting unemployment and Workers’ Comp at the same time.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) also provides two types of benefits, and our Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation lawyers can help you get Workers’ Compensation at the same time as either one.

Supplemental Security Income – Social Security Retirement Benefits

When most people hear “Social Security,” they probably think of SSI (Supplemental Security Income).  This is the income that older Americans qualify for after “retirement age” and can draw on whether they are still working or not.  The ability to get SSI vests after you reach the required age.

Because these “retirement” benefits actually have nothing to do with your actual retirement or ability to work, they can be claimed alongside Workers’ Comp.  However, there are rules that potentially reduce your old age SSI benefits while you get both Workers’ Comp and Social Security at the same time if the Workers’ Comp came first.

Social Security Disability

When people refer to “Social Security disability,” they are typically referring to one of two programs.  The first is SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance), a public insurance policy we all pay taxes into to get “work credits” to cover us if an injury or illness prevents us from working.  These payments are based on your work history, and you are entitled to draw on them if you get hurt for any reason – work-related or not.  Alternatively, if you do not have enough work history and credits, you can apply to SSI early as a “need-based” Social Security disability benefits program.

If you were injured in a work-related injury and it disables you, you could qualify for SSDI/SSI disability and Workers’ Comp at the same time.  As long as you have not voluntarily withdrawn from the workforce, these benefits are compatible and suffer no reduction.

How Much Does Social Security Reduce Workers’ Compensation in Pennsylvania?

Whether your Social Security benefits are reduced while receiving Workers’ Comp will depend on which benefits you receive:

Old Age Benefits After Injury

The Workers’ Comp Act specifically includes rules that reduce your Workers’ Comp benefits for “‘old age’ benefits” in § 204 of the Act.  This rule creates a “credit,” so that 50% of the benefits you receive under SSI are credited against your Workers’ Comp payments if you started SSI retirement benefits after the injury took place.

Using an example, we can look at the average SSI payout for January 2024: $1,907 per month, according to the SSA website.  If you receive the maximum Workers’ Comp wage-loss benefit from January 2024, you’d receive $1,325 per week.  If we change the SSI benefit from monthly to weekly (approximately $476.75 per week) and credit half of it ($238.38) against the Workers’ Comp weekly benefit, it would leave you with a reduced payout of around $1,086.62 per week.

This still gives you additional money overall by using both programs, but it simply changes the source of some of the money from the Workers’ Comp carrier to the federal government.  However, it does mean you cannot receive the full SSI retirement benefit and the full Workers’ Comp benefit at the same time.

Old Age Benefits Before Injury

The rule above only applies if you start receiving SSI retirement benefits after your injury.  If you are an older worker and you were already receiving supplemental income from Social Security while you were still working, then you would receive your full Workers’ Comp benefit under the language of § 204 of the Workers’ Comp Act.  Full Workers’ Comp benefits for total disability are usually 2/3 of your average wage from before the injury.  If you are only partially disabled, you probably do not qualify for Social Security disability.

Disability Benefits

The Workers’ Comp Act actually does not include an offset for payments made by the SSA on account of disability.  Unlike the old age benefits credit, there is no reduction in benefits if you receive SSDI or SSI benefits for a disability, leaving you with 100% of each program’s benefits.

Does Taking SSI or SSDI Mean You “Voluntarily Retired”?

To qualify for Workers’ Comp, you essentially have to be willing but unable to work.  Employers have tried to reason that the fact that you are taking Social Security means that you have voluntarily retired from the workforce and are no longer eligible for Workers’ Comp.  Courts have typically shut this down unless there is separate proof that the worker is not looking for work.

Even though old age benefits are often called “retirement” benefits, you can still work while receiving them, and getting SSI is not necessarily the same thing as actually “retiring.”  The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court went further in Hi-Tech Flooring v. WCAB (Santucci) (2022) to say that getting a union pension and Social Security disability benefits is not sufficient proof that the worker voluntarily retired.

These rules allow you to keep getting Workers’ Comp benefits so long as you do not declare yourself “retired” or otherwise done seeking work.  If you ultimately do find a job you can do, it might affect your disability and Work Comp benefits.

Call Our Workers’ Comp Lawyers in Pennsylvania Today

Contact Cardamone Law at (267) 651-7945 for a free case review with our Philadelphia Workers’ Compensation lawyers.