Section 224 of the Social Security Act provides that state Workers Compensation (WC) benefits will offset social security disability insurance benefits.
Some state WC statutes provide that periodic WC benefits will be offset by disability insurance benefits. Such statutes are known as reverse offset laws.
Social Security will respect such reverse offset plans and not apply the WC offset, if such plans were in effect on or prior to February 18, 1981.
Florida had a reverse offset law in effect as of that date which provided for disability insurance benefits to offset WC weekly benefits. Florida also had a law providing for monthly WC wage loss benefits, which were not subject to the reverse offset.
In 1989, Florida amended its Workers Compensation statute in order to change the word “monthly” to “weekly”, thus bringing all wage loss benefits within the scope of the reverse offset.
However, Social Security ruled that because this new law was not in effect as of February 18, 1981, that the entire unreduced wage loss benefits would offset social security disability insurance benefits. The same rule had applied earlier to similar reverse offset plans in North Dakota and Washington.
See Social Security Ruling (SSR) 93-1.
If you have any questions about the interaction of workers compensation benefits and disability insurance benefits, it may be wise to consult an experienced attorney.
This material should not be construed as legal advice for any particular fact situation, but is intended for general informational purposes only. For advice specific to any individual situation, an experienced attorney should be contacted.