My husband is 57 years old. He worked for the town of Speedway Indiana for 28 years and he is retired. He is collecting a pension of $1590 per month and he got an annuity of $119,000 which he has rolled o
over to a ira. My question is..... He has a severe bad back. Herniated and ruptured discs he can't work
anywhere due to his pain and immobility. He has medication which makes him dizzy and he is under a doctors care. Could he apply for SS disability even with collecting the pension?

Hi,

The pension itself wouldn't preclude entitlement to Social Security disability benefits (SSDI), but if your husband didn't pay Social Security taxes on his earnings for the town then he may have some issues.

First off, your husband would need to be insured for SSDI to be able to qualify. That means that he must have had at least 20 quarters (5 years) of Social Security coverage within the 40 quarter (10 year) period leading up to when he became disabled. Furthermore, if your husband's earnings on which his pension is based were exempt from Social Security taxes then his potential Social Security benefit rate would likely be reduced due to the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP)(https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10045.pdf). And lastly, if your husband's pension is based on disability and if his earnings were exempt from Social Security taxes then any SSDI that he would qualify for could be partially or fully offset.

Regardless of any of the above factors, though, your husband can certainly file for SSDI benefits to get a formal determination as to whether or not he qualifies.

Best, Jerry