Your Social Security retirement benefits are based on an accumulation of lifetime earnings. A disability reduces the total amount of benefits that you earn in the end. A disability freeze allows disabled people in New York to achieve the full potential of their Social Security benefits.

The definition of a freeze

A Social Security disability is the inability to work due to a physical or mental impairment that lasts for 12 months or longer. A disability freeze occurs when the Social Security Administration (SSA) suspends benefits payments based on your work history and past earnings.

A disability affects the lifetime accumulation of a person’s retirement benefits. A freeze prevents Social Security from counting the income that was not earned during the years in which you were unable to work. Those years are omitted from your lifetime benefit accumulations.

The date of the freeze starts on the day you became disabled and can no longer work. The freeze ends two months after you are no longer disabled or once you reach retirement age.

How to qualify

Qualifying for a freeze involves working a certain number of hours and paying a certain amount of money in Social Security taxes. An applicant has to apply for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) while disabled or within 12 months after the disability ends and you’re able to work again.

The benefits of a freeze

The Social Security Administration considers the full plight of disabled applicants. They can initiate a disability freeze that allows disabled people to receive their full retirement benefits if they’ve worked long enough and paid their taxes.