Plymouth SSDI Lawyers

Suppose you can no longer work because of a serious injury or medical condition. In that case, Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) may be the only thing standing between your family and financial free-fall. Yet fewer than half of Massachusetts applicants win benefits at any stage without legal help. In May 2024, administrative-law judges in the Commonwealth approved about 47 percent of the cases they heard, higher than the national average but still decisively below the success rate for claims filed with skilled representation.

Jeffrey Glassman Injury Lawyers has spent decades guiding Plymouth County residents through this labyrinth. Below you will find an in-depth look at SSDI law, the local bureaucracy, and the practical strategies our attorneys use to turn denials into victories.

SSDI is a disability insurance policy that every wage earner pays for through FICA taxes. When an injury or illness prevents “substantial gainful activity” (SGA) for at least 12 months, insured workers can draw a monthly benefit based on their lifetime earnings.

Unlike Supplemental Security Income (SSI), a means-tested program, SSDI has no resource limit, no household-income cap, and may eventually convert into your retirement benefit. For many families, it is the single most predictable source of replacement income after an unexpected medical catastrophe.

A 20-year-old worker faces roughly a one-in-four chance of becoming disabled before reaching full retirement age, a sobering statistic straight from the Social Security Administration’s own primer on disability.

SSA’s five-step sequential evaluation starts by confirming you are not engaging in SGA (earning more than $1,550 per month in 2025) and ends by deciding whether any job exists in significant numbers that you can still perform. Each step is binary; a single adverse finding ends the inquiry.

Most adult applicants must have earned at least 20 quarters of coverage in the 40 quarters (ten years) before disability onset. Younger claimants qualify on a sliding scale. A Plymouth seafood-processing employee sickened by chemical exposure at 27, for example, may need as few as six quarters of recent coverage.

Your impairment must be expected to last 12 months or result in death. Temporary injuries, even if undeniably severe, do not satisfy the statutory definition.

1. Initial Application – Filed online or at the Hanover Field Office, 13 miles north of downtown Plymouth (198 Columbia Rd., Hanover, MA 02339).
2. Reconsideration – A paper review by a different examiner.
3. ALJ Hearing – Plymouth cases are typically docketed in the Boston Office of Hearings Operations (OHO) at the Thomas P. O’Neill Federal Building, 10 Causeway St.
4. Appeals Council – A national review board in Falls Church, Virginia.
5. Federal Court – Filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

Wait times fluctuate. In 2025, Boston OHO hearings average 9–10 months from request to disposition, followed by another six weeks for a written decision. Meanwhile, many claimants go more than a year with no income, an enormous stressor that Jeffrey Glassman lawyers help relieve by connecting clients to state interim assistance and private charitable funds.

• Knowledge of Regional Medical Practices – Our team routinely gathers records from Beth Israel Deaconess–Plymouth, South Shore Hospital, and smaller orthopedic clinics in Duxbury and Kingston, satisfying SSA’s requirement for longitudinal evidence.
• Familiarity with Boston ALJs – Each judge develops preferences about witness format, vocational-expert testimony, and the level of detail expected in a closing brief. Local attorneys see these patterns daily; out-of-state firms rarely do.
• Fast Access to Field-Office Staff – Because we regularly interact with Hanover personnel, we can resolve data-input errors (a wrong onset date, a missing W-2) in days rather than weeks.

The SSA’s medical-vocational guidelines (“grids”) tilt the scales in favor of older, less-educated workers, but younger applicants must prove disability with objective test results, specialist opinions, and functional capacity evaluations. Our lawyers:

• Coordinate imaging studies that demonstrate nerve impingement or spinal stenosis.
• Obtain RFC (Residual Functional Capacity) statements from treating physicians that explicitly map limitations, lifting, standing, and concentration to regulatory language.
• Cross-reference medication side effects with credible medical literature to show they impede sustained work.

Receiving SSDI does not mean you can never try to work again. The 2024 Red Book expanded state Medicaid “threshold amounts,” allowing disability beneficiaries to test their capacity under the Ticket to Work program without immediately losing health coverage. Plymouth clients often use a Trial Work Period to gauge stamina at the town’s thriving biotech manufacturers or remote customer-service positions. Careful planning with an attorney prevents inadvertent SGA violations.

Federal law caps attorney fees at 25 percent of past-due benefits up to $7,200 (indexed annually), collected only if the claim succeeds. All consultations at Jeffrey Glassman Injury Lawyers remain free, and litigation expenses (medical-record copying, vocational reports) are advanced interest-free until the case concludes.

Yes. Plymouth fish-processing workers injured on the job often draw Section 34A workers ‘ comp benefits and SSDI simultaneously. The combined amount cannot exceed 80 percent of your average pre-injury earnings; our attorneys calculate this “offset” so benefits stay intact.

At the Hanover office, plan for four to six months. A compelling supplemental brief can tip the scale and avoid the longer hearing stage.

Your SSDI converts to Social Security retirement automatically with no gap in payment.

• Deep Local Roots – Decades of representing South Shore families have forged relationships with Plymouth neurologists, orthopedists, and pain specialists whose opinions carry weight at Boston OHO hearings.
• Integrated Injury Practice – If the disability arose from a third-party accident (maritime, premises, auto), our civil-litigation team pursues damages in parallel, coordinating discovery so nothing jeopardizes SSDI.
• Data-Driven Strategy – Using SSA quarterly disposition reports, we track each ALJ’s allowance rate and tailor briefs to empirical tendencies.
• Community Commitment – Our scholarship program for children of disabled workers and sponsorship of Plymouth Area Coalition food drives demonstrate authentic investment.

The Social Security Act gives Plymouth’s injured workers the right to insurance they have already paid for. Winning that right often demands persistence, sophisticated medical analysis, and tactical navigation of a bureaucracy stretched thin by caseloads. Jeffrey Glassman Injury Lawyers stands ready to shoulder that burden so you can focus on health and family.

Contact us today for a free, no-obligation consultation, or visit our Boston headquarters at 1 International Pl, or schedule a virtual meeting from the comfort of your Plymouth home. Your future benefits are too important to leave to chance; let our experience be your advantage.