Hi Larry,
I was furloughed 2 weeks after I expressed to my HR i am considering taking time away from work for health reasons or disability.
While furloughed, i Now did decide to have a disability advocate Help me & I just applied for SSDI. My question is,... should i stop my unemployment weekly filing? (Plus, DWS UI just told me that I have to start applying for 3 jobs/week... That’s contradictory to my new disability application). Should I stop filing my weekly UI claims?

Hi,

My expertise is limited to Social Security benefits, so I can't advise you whether or not to apply for unemployment insurance.

Here is what I can tell you. Collecting unemployment insurance would have no effect on your ability to qualify for Social Security disability (SSDI) benefits, nor your SSDI benefit rate if you do qualify. However, if you return to substantial gainful (SGA) work within a year of when you last performed SGA, your SSDI claim would be disallowed. The current average monthly earnings amount that Social Security considered to be SGA is $1,260 for non-blind individuals, or $2,110 for blind individuals.

In order to qualify for SSDI benefits a person must be considered to be unable to perform SGA, and the impairment(s) causing that inability must be expected to last for at least a year or end in death. That's why your SSDI claim would be disallowed if you return to SGA level work before a year has passed since your last SGA level work ended.

Best, Jerry