I want to take a job and refuse money.

February 19, 2020 4:10 PM

I currently live on social security disability to be able to not have to work. I'm also currently working on an app which is my main ambition. I am, however, finding that I have enough time to work a 9-5 as well as do what I do and have been getting concerned about whether my resume will suffer or if just listing the app would be fine as far as there being no gaps in my employment history. If it's better to get a job, I want to take the job without money because I want to make sure I keep my social security benefits in case something happens in the future in relation to my disability. TL;DR: is it possible to take a job and refuse money?
posted by defmute to Work & Money (12 answers total)

I currently live on social security disability to be able to not have to work.

SSDI is paid for people who are unable to work, not unwilling to work.

TL;DR: is it possible to take a job and refuse money?

In general, work in the United States must be paid if you are working for a for-profit company. If you are volunteering for a non-profit company, you don't need to be paid, but you also can't replace a paid employee. Roughly speaking, a "9-5" is not something that can legally be done for free.

If you are not blind, the US government considers (roughly) any wage above minimum wage "substantial". There is a higher threshold if you are blind. SSDI does allow a nine month "work trial" where you determine if you are able to come off of disability. For this time, you are able to earn an unlimited amount of money with no penalty. After that, you are able to work with pay, so long as you don't earn a "substantial" amount of money. Even if you earn a "substantial" amount of money for up to five years, you are still able to restart your benefits with no reapplication required.
posted by saeculorum at 4:22 PM on February 19, 2020 [22 favorites]

SSI/SSDI are for people who are not able to work at the level of substantial gainful activity, as noted above.

I'd add that you could probably find a part-time volunteer gig, but if you start volunteering full time that's generally seen as showing that you are able to work.
posted by bile and syntax at 4:27 PM on February 19, 2020 [2 favorites]

Why can't you just do a volunteer job or two?
posted by jenfullmoon at 4:47 PM on February 19, 2020

Response by poster: Jenfullmoon: do you know if a volunteer job would be seen similarly in weight as a paid job on a resume?
posted by defmute at 4:49 PM on February 19, 2020

So to put this as gently as possible: you want to take a job from someone who does not qualify for those benefits, while retaining yours?

My suggestion is to either remain on disability, or direct your efforts towards finding employment that pays the equivalent or better than disability.
posted by Crystal Fox at 5:05 PM on February 19, 2020 [23 favorites]

Volunteering vs. a paid job vs spinning your app development as a freelance career - how that looks on a resume is going to depend on how you present it, what field you’re looking to be employed in in the future, and the specifics of the work in question. A volunteer gig relevant to the field you want to work in could carry more weight than a random unrelated paid gig. Or not. It’s all going to be pretty field and job specific and maybe even down to what a particular hiring manager cares about.

I would expect taking a paid 9-5 job and just turning down pay to be a nonstarter, though. That could land a company in legal hot water. Talk to a lawyer with disability expertise about what your options are; you may have some, but this specific idea likely isn’t workable.
posted by Stacey at 5:29 PM on February 19, 2020 [1 favorite]

Do not take paid or volunteer positions without speaking to a disability lawyer. Disability benefits are very difficult to get and you could get into a bad situation with your current benefits and future benefits if you incorrectly start a job, paid or unpaid.
posted by quince at 5:33 PM on February 19, 2020 [8 favorites]

You should be asking a disability lawyer, because the stakes are non-trivial. I'd ask mods to anonymize this. You are working as a self-employed person developing an app. You state that you are able to work a 9-to-5 job. I have a disabled family member, and they nearly lost benefits permanently for having a part-time job and accidentally working too many hours, because they're a good egg and wanted to be helpful. Getting a letter from the federal government asking you to pay back several years of benefits is a horrible experience. It took a lawyer to sort it out and caused so much stress.
posted by theora55 at 8:17 PM on February 19, 2020 [8 favorites]

Best answer: All of the above.

Plus, any company agreeing to doing such a thing would risk sky-high penalties for fraud if they don't pay you what you're worth. I once read about a case where an SSDI recipient worked at a relative's retail store at a smaller, agreed rate that would keep them below the monthly allowed income amount. Both the SSDI recipient and the relative got into heaps of trouble for it. Legal headaches for ages and high penalties for everyone involved.

And the app idea is potentially iffy as well. On one of the legal sites focusing on disability benefits, I read about woman who was on SSDI and spent her free time writing a book, which itself is totally fine with SocSec -- pursuing hobbies with no intention of monetary gain. The problem was, she published the book and went on tour to support it, so SocSec reversed her benefits and she had to pay back years of benefit money.

Social Security usually sends out a mandatory survey every few years to see if you've been working or volunteering in a meaningful way that could potentially disqualify you from receiving benefits. So that's something to consider as well, as those are very closely scrutinized. They ask about EVERYTHING.

If you're genuinely in need of SSDI but you're asking this question because you're worried about an extra-long gap in your resume, I get it. A lot of us are in that boat -- I'm an SSDI recipient waiting on a transplant match, so I'm looking at a seven-year gap (at least?) if everything works out, but in the meantime I'm genuinely unable to work and I wholly depend on my benefit to survive.

There are lots of resources out there (and here on AskMetafilter, too!) with tips for organizing your resume, handling interview questions about the gap, and acclimating yourself back into a working environment after a long illness. I plan to take advantage of those resources when the time comes.
posted by mochapickle at 9:05 PM on February 19, 2020 [9 favorites]

Response by poster: Thank you for the answers, everybody. I'm likely going to start looking for work after reviewing the resources mochapickle suggested.
posted by defmute at 11:37 PM on February 19, 2020

Please discuss this with an attorney, or someone who knows the ins and outs of an attempt to work while receiving SSDI. It is not easy to qualify for those benefits, so unless you committed some sort of fraud during your application process, it's been determined that you would have considerable difficulty obtaining or maintaining employment. The SS rules regarding a return to work are meant to encourage that step, but can be opaque and arbitrary, with real consequences for a misunderstanding. Do not rely on a call to the SSA hotline to answer questions in this regard. Talk to an attorney!
posted by bullatony at 5:03 AM on February 20, 2020 [2 favorites]

If you didn't work with an attorney to get benefits, or don't want to talk to that same attorney, I would recommend talking to someone from NOSSCR's referral service.
posted by bile and syntax at 6:22 AM on February 20, 2020 [1 favorite]