Job Spectrum

Query : I'm now sixty five years old. My query is, am I able to apply and get Social Security benefits as well as Unemployment Compensation? Some folk say you cannot, but others say that you can. What's the right answer? I am living in Massachusetts.Answer : I have received questions whether or not an individual can collect Social Security ( "SS" ) retirement benefits and unemployment benefits at the exact same time. Many individuals think you can't do this.

The idea that you can't collect both benefits simultaneously comes from past history when indeed, you might not collect both. SS is a federal programme and unemployment compensation is a state programme. Years back, a Fed.law needed states to offset unemployment benefits by most or all of the Social Security a person was receiving. Luckily, the Fed. law was modified to permit individual states to make the choice how this offset is handled.

Most states modified the state law to permit full retirement benefits with no offset due to SS retirement benefits. Currently only Louisiana and Illinois offset unemployment benefits with Social Security retirement benefits. South Dakota has modified its law, but the law hasn't yet been implemented so if you live in South Dakota, check with your state unemployment agency on when this could take affect.

The first Fed. law was implemented at a point in time when people retired at a much earlier age and people who were still working and who could claim unemployment were a minority.As our dwellers has aged and we are working well past the age for picking up SS, this had to modify and thank goodness it has in most states. So if you live in Louisiana, Illinois, and potentially South Dakota, your unemployment benefits will be reduced by 50 percent of your Social Security benefits. anything is an improvement on nothing so go forward and file for your unemployment. In all of the states, you'll get your full unemployment benefits.