Yes! We have an AWIC again!

Working with government agencies causes mood swings.  In any given day, I might think a client’s case is chugging through the system normally only to find out during a follow-up call that the case has been stalled because paperwork we submitted two weeks ago is sitting in someone’s in-box unread or because the local field office is so backed up that the case has not been moved on to the next stage in processing.  That is definitely a mood dampener.  On the other hand, I might receive a letter that a client has been approved much sooner that I or the client expected.  That puts a smile on my face.  These are expected little setbacks and victories that affect one client a whole lot but net each other out in terms of the system’s overall efficiency. 

Then, there are the mood altering matters that have a global impact.  A few days ago, I received a call from the new Area Work Incentives Coordinator (AWIC) for the Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana area. This is HUGE, because the AWIC position is very important and has gone unfilled for more than two years.  AWICs are the technical experts at the SSA who understand the policies of the SSA that are intended to incentivize people receiving disabilities to work but that are so complicated that front line SSA staff often do not understand how the policies work.

Some such complicated work incentives are the Trial Work Period and Extended Period of Eligibility that are available to workers with disabilities who receive a Title II benefit, including Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) generated by their own work histories or a Childhood Disability Benefit/Disabled Adult Child benefit (CDB/DAC) resulting from the disability, retirement or death of a parent with and SSA work history.  I have heard that some front line              staff explain the Trial Work Period to workers with disabilities and their families by saying “You have nine months in which you can make as much money as you want without losing your benefits!”  While this is technically true, it is NOT an accurate explanation of the Trial Work Period and its purpose.

To evaluate the ongoing eligibility of a worker for her/his SSDI/CDB disability benefits, the SSA first compares the workers monthly earned income to that year’s Trial Work level.  For 2026, the Trial Work threshold is $1,210 per month.  Each month that the worker meets or exceeds $1,210 in gross earned income is tallied as a Trial Work month.  Once the worker has accumulated 9 Trial Work months in a rolling 60 month period, s/he has completed the Trial Work Period.  This could happen in 9 consecutive months or over the course of several years.  During the Trial Work Period, the worker does, in fact receive her/his SSDI/CDB benefit regardless of how much s/he earns.

The Trial Work Period is followed by the Extended Period of Eligibility.  The EPE is a 36-consecutive-month period during which the worker’s earned income is compared to the Substantial Gainful Activity level that delineates “disabled under [SSA] rules”.  SGA is $1,690/month in gross earned income for 2026.  During the EPE, a worker is eligible to receive her/his cash SSDI/CDB payment for any month in which earned income falls below SGA and is ineligible for the cash payment in any month that earned income meets or exceeds SGA.  This means that the SSDI/CDB benefit may be paid for certain months of the EPE but may not be paid for all months.  The first month that the worker exceeds SGA and the next two months (regardless of earned income) are eligible for an SSDI/CDB payment as the “Grace Period”.  The fact that earned income for one month is reported in the first few days of the next month and that the SSA then takes time to process the earned income information means that workers whose income goes above and below the SGA threshold during the EPE may incur overpayments.  However, if the worker is reporting her/his income in a timely manner, s/he cannot be held liable for the overpayment.

If, in the first month after the EPE, the worker exceeds SGA then s/he is no longer eligible for SSDI/CDB because s/he is no longer “disabled under [SSA] rules.”  If the worker is under SGA in that 37^th month, but then exceeds SGA in any month thereafter, her/his SSDI/CDB eligibility is terminated.  There is a subsequent safety net called “Expedited Reinstatement.”  If, within 60 months or losing “disabled” status the worker’s earned income falls back below the SGA level, s/he can request expedited reinstatement of her/his benefits.

Some people may be concurrently eligible for SSDI and CDB.  If the initial dates of eligibility for the two benefits are different, then the TWP and EPE timelines for each benefit are also different.  Moreover, a worker who is eligible for a CDB before losing her/his “disabled” status, can regain that benefit through expedited reinstatement.  However, a worker who loses her/his disabled status prior to a parent’s disability, retirement or death loses access to the CDB and cannot apply for it even if her/his earned income is back below the SGA level at the date when the parent files.

Work Incentives including the TWP and EPE have complex rules.  Often the SSA field office staff or the national 800 number staff who answer the phones do not fully understand the rule and provide incomplete, inconsistent or incorrect information about the incentives.  This is why it is invaluable to have an AWIC upon whom my clients and I can both depend on to understand the rules of working with disability benefits and, more importantly, how those rules play out in any one client’s particular circumstances.