We often focus on the medical evidence of disability. And that's important. But another are that must be carefully prepared is the claimant's earnings or wage record. Social Security will pull all earnings records, including unemployment benefits, for the period claimed as disability.
A problem I often run into is that the claimant stopped working but then received sick leave pay or long term disability benefits from an insurance company. When Social Security pulls the wage and earning record, these payments show up as wages. And that creates problems with Social Security disability--because they won't approve a benefit while the claimant was working.
So, it is necessary to see whether any wages or earnings are being reported during the period of disability. If the claimant received sick leave, withdrawals from a 401(K) or disability insurance payments, those must be documented so they do not count as earnings or wages.
Receiving disability insurance payments will not offset Social Security payments, as long as you document that the income in question was not wages, salary or self-employment income. You need to prove that, indeed, the money came from disability or "non-earned" income, not from work.
Failure to prove this distinction can cost you thousands of dollars in back pay. Of course, if you have a professional advocate or attorney representing you, he/she will take care of this for you.
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