Many people in Detroit, Michigan, get hurt at work. Unfortunately, too many of these injuries end in a worker being disabled and unable to earn an income.
When this happens, a worker has options. For instance, Michigan, like other states, has a workers’ compensation system, and workers can use that system to cover their medical bills and a lot of their lost income. However, it does not pay for everything.
The good news is that, in addition to workers compensation, a Michigan worker can also apply for Social Security disability benefits, assuming of course that they meet the federal requirements. The fact that an injured worker already has received some help from the workers’ compensation system does not affect a person’s eligibility for disability benefits.
However, there is one caveat to this rule, though, and it involves how much money a Michigan resident can collect in disability each month. Specifically, a person cannot collect more than 80 percent of his or her gross income via Social Security disability and workers’ compensation combined. For example, if a person earned $5,000 before his or her injury, and is drawing $3,000 a month in workers’ compensation, then he or she can only collect $1,000 a month in disability, even if he or she would otherwise be entitled to more.
The important thing to remember, though, is that injured Michigan workers have several options available to them, and disability is one of those options. However, applying for disability can be a complicated and confusing process for someone not familiar with it, which is why the advice and assistance of an experienced disability attorney is advisable.