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

Yes, you can get workers’ comp and Social Security Disability at the same time.

The catch is that the Social Security Administration (SSA) applies an offset: if your workers’ compensation checks and your Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits add up to more than 80% of what you were earning before you got hurt, Social Security cuts your SSDI payment by the difference. You still collect both, just not always the full amount of each.

At Lewis & Keller Injury Lawyers, we see this most often with injured workers in Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and across the Piedmont Triad who will be out of work for a long time. How your comp settlement is written can decide how much SSDI you keep, and the rules change again if you receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI).

Key Takeaways for Receiving Workers’ Comp and SSDI at the Same Time

• You can receive workers’ comp and SSDI at the same time, but Social Security reduces SSDI when your combined benefits exceed 80% of your average current earnings.
• North Carolina does not reduce its own workers’ comp benefits because you receive SSDI; any reduction comes out of Social Security.
• Social Security converts a lump-sum comp settlement into a monthly amount, and the rate stated in the settlement can change how much SSDI you keep.
• SSI treats workers’ comp as unearned income, and settlement money you keep counts toward the SSI resource limit of $2,000 for an individual.
• Report when workers’ comp starts, changes, or stops, and any lump-sum settlement, to Social Security to avoid an overpayment.

How the SSDI Workers’ Comp Offset Works

The offset comes from Section 224 of the Social Security Act, codified at 42 U.S.C. 424a. It reduces SSDI when your combined monthly benefits exceed the higher of two numbers: 80% of your “average current earnings,” or the total Social Security family benefit before any reduction.

Average current earnings is Social Security’s measure of what you made before your disability. SSA’s operations manual on average current earnings describes three methods and uses whichever produces the highest figure: your single best year of earnings in the year you became disabled or the five years before it, your best five consecutive years, or the average monthly wage used to compute your benefit.

Benefits paid to your spouse or children on your record count toward the SSDI total, so the whole family’s check can be reduced. Private disability insurance and private pensions don’t trigger the offset, according to SSA’s answer on disability benefit reductions.

A Worked Offset Example

These numbers are illustrative only. Say a warehouse worker in Greensboro earned about $4,000 a month before a back injury, and Social Security sets that as her average current earnings. Eighty percent of $4,000 is $3,200. That is her cap.

Under N.C. Gen. Stat. 97-29, total disability benefits pay two-thirds of the average weekly wage. Her roughly $923 weekly wage produces about $615 a week in comp, or about $2,667 a month. Social Security sets her SSDI benefit, with no dependents, at $1,800 a month.

Together, those payments come to about $4,467 a month, which is roughly $1,267 over the $3,200 cap. Social Security subtracts that excess from her SSDI, leaving about $533 a month. Her total income drops to the $3,200 cap, not below it, and when her weekly comp checks end, her full SSDI can be restored.

Why Approval in One Program Doesn’t Guarantee the Other

Approval for workers’ comp doesn’t mean Social Security will approve you, because the two programs ask different questions. The North Carolina Industrial Commission decides comp claims.

Under N.C. Gen. Stat. 97-2, “disability” means an incapacity, because of a work injury, to earn the wages you were making at the time of the injury. Partial disability counts. For 2026 injuries, the maximum weekly compensation rate is $1,446.

Social Security uses a stricter test. According to SSA’s page on how to qualify for disability benefits, you must be unable to do your past work or adjust to other work, and your condition must last or be expected to last at least 12 months or result in death.

You also need enough work credits, and benefits start only after a five-month waiting period. Unlike comp, SSDI doesn’t require that your injury happened on the job.

That gap is why someone who can still do lighter work may keep receiving partial comp benefits and still be denied SSDI.

Here is how the two programs compare side by side:

	North Carolina workers’ comp	SSDI
Who decides your claim	North Carolina Industrial Commission	Social Security Administration
Injury must be work-related	Yes	No
Disability test	Incapacity to earn your pre-injury wages; partial disability counts	Unable to do your past work or adjust to other work, lasting at least 12 months or expected to result in death
Work credits required	No	Yes
Waiting period	Seven days, paid back if disability lasts more than 21 days	Five full months
Weekly or monthly amount	Two-thirds of your average weekly wage, up to $1,446 a week for 2026 injuries	Based on your lifetime covered earnings, then reduced by any offset

How a Lump-Sum Comp Settlement Is Prorated

Many North Carolina comp cases end in a lump-sum settlement, which the Industrial Commission must approve as fair and just under N.C. Gen. Stat. 97-17. A lump sum does not escape the offset. Social Security converts it into a monthly amount, and that monthly amount is what gets counted against your 80% cap.

Settlement language shapes that conversion. SSA’s manual on prorating a workers’ compensation lump sum settlement looks first to the rate stated in the settlement. If the agreement doesn’t give one, SSA falls back on the last weekly rate you were paid, and then on the state maximum.

SSA also subtracts certain costs before prorating. Its guidance on excludable expenses covers documented medical costs tied to the claim, including reasonable estimates of future care, and legal fees you paid.

Back to our illustrative worker. Suppose she settles for $60,000, and $10,000 of it is documented legal fees and medical expenses, leaving $50,000. If the agreement is silent, SSA may spread that $50,000 at her old $615 weekly rate. That works out to about 81 weeks of the same heavy offset she already had.

Now suppose the agreement instead states that the $50,000 represents benefits spread over her remaining life expectancy of, say, 35 years. That is about $27 a week, or roughly $119 a month. Her $1,800 SSDI plus $119 is well under her $3,200 cap, so there may be no offset at all.

Same money, very different result. Fixing that language before the Industrial Commission approves the deal is far easier than fixing it afterward, which is a strong reason to have a social security disability lawyer review any settlement if you receive SSDI or have applied.

Medicare Set-Asides on Larger Settlements

Most SSDI recipients become eligible for Medicare after 24 months of disability benefits, according to SSA’s Medicare information for disability beneficiaries. Medicare doesn’t want to pay for injury-related care a comp settlement was meant to cover.

A Workers’ Compensation Medicare Set-Aside Arrangement (WCMSA) reserves part of the settlement for future injury-related medical care. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services says on its WCMSA page that it will review a proposed set-aside if you already have Medicare and the settlement is over $25,000, or if you reasonably expect to be on Medicare within 30 months and the settlement is expected to exceed $250,000.

Review isn’t legally required, but CMS recommends it, and the set-aside should be planned alongside the offset language.

How Workers’ Comp Affects SSI

SSI is needs-based rather than tied to your work record, so the 80% offset doesn’t apply. Instead, SSA’s policy on workers’ compensation for SSI treats comp as unearned income, minus any portion designated for medical or legal expenses.

Unearned income reduces your SSI payment, and a comp check of any real size can wipe it out. The maximum federal SSI payment in 2026 is $994 a month for an individual.

A lump sum you keep past the month you receive it counts as a resource. SSI’s resource limit is $2,000 for an individual and $3,000 for a couple, so a settlement can end SSI eligibility unless it is structured or spent with that limit in mind.

Steps That Protect Both Claims

A few habits make the overlap easier to manage:

• File your comp claim on time. Under N.C. Gen. Stat. 97-24, a claim generally must be filed with the Industrial Commission within two years of the accident, and some exceptions and occupational disease rules can change that timing.
• Consider applying for SSDI as soon as your doctors expect you to be out of work for a year or more, because of the five-month waiting period.
• Tell Social Security when your comp benefits start, change, or stop, and when you settle.
• Keep your settlement agreement, medical bills, and fee statements, since you must prove excludable expenses.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to report workers’ comp to Social Security?

Yes. In its publication on how workers’ compensation and other disability payments may affect your benefits, SSA asks SSDI recipients to report when workers’ compensation starts, changes, or stops, and to report any lump-sum settlement right away.

If you don’t report, Social Security may later find you were overpaid and ask you to pay the difference back.

Can I apply for SSDI while my North Carolina workers’ comp claim is still open?

Yes. You can apply for Social Security Disability while a North Carolina workers’ comp claim is pending or while you’re receiving weekly comp checks. The SSA and the North Carolina Industrial Commission decide their claims separately, and SSA will apply the offset once both benefits are being paid.

Does the workers’ comp offset on SSDI ever end?

Yes. The SSDI workers’ comp offset ends the month you reach full retirement age or the month your workers’ comp benefits stop, whichever comes first. For a lump-sum settlement, it ends when the prorated period SSA assigns to that settlement runs out.

Does SSDI reduce workers’ comp benefits in North Carolina?

No. Some states cut their own comp benefits when a worker also gets SSDI, called a reverse offset, but North Carolina is not on SSA’s list of approved reverse offset states. Receiving SSDI does not lower North Carolina workers’ comp benefits; any reduction comes out of Social Security.

Can I get Social Security Disability after a workers’ comp settlement?

Yes. A workers’ comp settlement does not stop you from applying for or receiving SSDI later, as long as you meet SSA’s disability and work credit rules. SSA will still prorate the settlement and may reduce your SSDI for the period it assigns to that money, so the settlement’s wording matters even if you apply after it is approved.

Talk With Us Before You Settle

When you’re dealing with both programs, the decisions that affect your income most are often made in the settlement paperwork. Lewis & Keller handles workers’ compensation and Social Security Disability claims from our Greensboro and Winston-Salem offices, so we can look at both sides of your case together.

If you’d like a second set of eyes on your benefits or a proposed settlement, contact us for a free case review. You pay nothing unless we win.