Average SSDI Wait Times by State
The Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) application process can be overwhelming, especially when you hear stories about long wait times and frustrating delays. If you’re unable to work due...
July 11, 2026Can You Work While Waiting for Disability Approval?
If a medical condition prevents you from working, you may qualify for Social Security disability benefits. Disability benefits can provide much-needed support, but it can take several months for the Social Security Administration (SSA) to approve a claim. You still have expenses while your application is pending, and even after approval, you may want or need to supplement payments. So, can you work while on disability? While waiting for approval?
Yes, you may be able to work while on disability and while waiting for disability approval. If you choose to work, the amount and type of work you do must be consistent with your medical limitations and earn you less than a monthly earnings limit that changes each year.
A disability attorney can help you navigate working while waiting for disability and after you receive benefits. The Law Offices of Jennifer R. Solomon helps Californians pursue Social Security disability benefits. Founded in 2010 by Jennifer Solomon after nearly a decade as an insurance defense attorney, our firm combines meticulous case preparation with individualized advocacy. We understand the financial and personal challenges that disability applicants face while waiting for a decision, and we help clients throughout California build strong claims supported by thorough medical evidence from initial application through appeals.
How Do You Qualify for Social Security Disability Benefits?
A disabling medical condition can affect every part of your life, including your ability to earn a living. If your condition prevents you from working, you may qualify for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), which generally requires that you have earned sufficient work credits, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), which does not, or both.
To receive benefits, you generally must:
- Have a medically documented physical or mental impairment;
- Be unable to perform substantial gainful activity (SGA) because of your impairment; and
- Expect that condition to last at least 12 months or result in death.
You can continue working while your disability claim is pending and while on disability if you do not engage in SGA.
What Is Substantial Gainful Activity?
To qualify for benefits, your impairment must prevent you from engaging in SGA. Work generally involves SGA when it requires substantial and gainful activities, produces earnings above applicable limits, or both. Work is substantial when you perform significant and productive physical or mental duties, meaning duties that make a meaningful contribution to performing the job. Work is gainful when you perform it for pay or profit, or when people ordinarily perform that type of work for pay or profit.
Physical work activities include tasks such as:
- Standing,
- Walking,
- Lifting,
- Carrying,
- Reaching,
Pushing, - Pulling,
- Handling objects, and
- Using your hands.
Mental work activities may include:
- Concentrating,
- Remembering instructions,
- Communicating with other people,
- Making decisions,
- Maintaining attention,
- Adapting to changes, and
- Completing work consistently.
For most applicants in 2026, you generally engage in SGA if you earn $1,690 or more per month.
When Can You Work While on Disability?
You can continue working while waiting for disability approval if your medical condition continues to prevent you from engaging in SGA, the work your job requires is consistent with your medical restrictions, and your earnings do not exceed the SGA limit. If your impairment prevents you from standing for prolonged periods, maintaining concentration throughout a workday, or interacting with the public for extended periods, you can work in positions that do not require you to perform those tasks.
Even if your work is consistent with your medical limitations, earning more than the applicable monthly limit generally means your work constitutes SGA. So, you can work while on disability when the position is consistent with your medical limitations, and you do not earn more than the SSDI income limits in 2026 of $1,690.
However, once benefits begin, certain additional work rules may apply depending on whether you receive SSDI or SSI and whether you are participating in a trial work period or other SSA work incentive program.
How Many Hours Can You Work If You Are on Disability?
Unfortunately, the Social Security disability system does not offer an easy answer to this question. SSA does not establish an hour limit. Generally, your medical condition limits how long you can continue performing physical or mental work activities.
The number of hours you can work without engaging in SGA depends on your medical limitations and your hourly earnings. Someone with severe fatigue may only tolerate a few hours of work each week. Likewise, someone earning a higher hourly wage may reach the SGA limit after working relatively few hours.
Can You Get Partial Disability and Still Work?
People often use the phrase “partial disability” to describe a medical condition that limits, but does not completely prevent, work. However, SSA generally does not classify disabilities as partial or total. Instead, SSA evaluates the specific work activities your condition allows you to perform.
Some conditions that qualify for Social Security disability benefits create limitations that people might describe as partial, rather than total, disability. In that situation, you may work while, colloquially, on partial disability.
What Role Does Your Attorney Play Throughout the Disability Process?
Applying for disability benefits is a nuanced legal process that a disability attorney can guide you through. Throughout the disability process, your attorney can help you prepare a strong application, explain how your current or proposed work may affect your disability claim, and guide you through pursuing benefits through reconsideration, hearings, and further appeals if necessary.
Questions about working often arise while your disability claim is pending. You may receive a job offer, need additional income to support yourself or your loved ones, or wonder whether returning to work part-time could affect your claim. An experienced disability attorney evaluates the effects of those decisions on your disability benefits before you make them.
We can also advise you about alternative sources of financial assistance, such as California’s State Disability Insurance program, which many Californians qualify to receive while SSA processes SSI and SSDI applications.
Talk to the Law Offices of Jennifer R. Solomon
If you have questions about working while on disability or while waiting for disability approval, the Law Offices of Jennifer R. Solomon can help. Since founding the firm in 2010, Jennifer Solomon has gained more than a decade of experience helping clients navigate SSA benefits. We can rely on this experience to help you pursue benefits, regardless of where in the application process you are.
Contact us today to discuss your eligibility for disability benefits.
Legal References Used to Inform This Page
To ensure the accuracy and clarity of this page, we referenced official legal resources during the content development process:
You Might Also Enjoy
Getting Benefits with Mental Illness: MDD, BPD, PTSD, Schizo & More
Many individuals who live with mental illness face challenges managing their conditions while maintaining a stable professional life. For others, the limitations of a mental illness are so severe...
What Other Benefits Can I Get with SSDI?
You’re getting those crucial SSDI payments, a lifeline when you need it most. But what if that’s just the tip of the iceberg? What if hidden beneath those monthly...
