Nevada social security disability
Nevada Disability Lawyers: Nevada Has a Workers' Comp Offset Law and Social Security Does Not Count It
Nevada passed a reverse offset law in 1981 and Social Security has never recognized it, because it took effect four months after the federal cutoff. So in Nevada workers' compensation does not absorb the reduction. Your Social Security disability benefit does.
This is the most commonly repeated error about Nevada, and it appears on lists that look authoritative. A claimant who reads one of them plans around a payment that is not going to arrive intact. Two hearing offices decide Nevada claims, one in Las Vegas and one in Reno.
1981
Year Nevada passed its offset law, four months after the federal cutoff
2009
Year Nevada repealed it, which changed nothing federally
2
Hearing offices deciding Nevada claims
$0 upfront
No fee unless you win
The law that does not count
How Workers' Compensation Affects Social Security Disability in Nevada
A small group of states reverse that arrangement, and Nevada is not one of them in any way Social Security acts on.
It reduces your federal benefit, not your compensation. Federal law caps the two together at a set share of what you earned before the injury, and where the total runs over, Social Security cuts its own payment. A small group of states reverse that arrangement, and Nevada is not one of them in any way Social Security acts on.
The history is the reason. Nevada enacted its plan on July 1, 1981, and Social Security does not recognize plans that took effect after February 18, 1981. The state then repealed its own version in 2009, which the agency's manual notes was not significant, since the plan had never been recognized. Two changes, neither of which moved the federal calculation an inch.
The practical effect is not a technicality. It decides which of two checks gets smaller, and in Nevada it is the one that comes from Social Security. That is the benefit you earned through work.
One exception, and it is old
When Nevada's Offset Plan Is Recognized for a Disability Claim
Only for claims that began before the cutoff. Social Security's instructions recognize the state plan where disability onset was before March 1981 or entitlement began before September 1981, and treat everything after that under the ordinary federal rule.
Anyone in the first group reached retirement age long ago, so the exception rarely comes up. It is set out here because a claimant who finds it and thinks it applies to them will plan around the wrong number, and because seeing it in the manual is not evidence that Nevada is a reverse offset state today.
Before you sign a lump sum
How a Nevada Lump Sum Settlement Changes Your Disability Offset
It spreads out rather than disappearing. Social Security prorates a lump sum over time and applies the offset against the monthly equivalent, so a single payment reaches a stream of federal benefits including any retroactive award. any retroactive award
Nevada gives you a window most people do not know about. The lump sum is chosen on an election form, and a worker has twenty days after it is delivered to reaffirm or retract the request on a second form. Electing the lump sum ends compensation and settles the claim, which makes those twenty days the last point at which any of this can be reconsidered.
One more trap sits behind that decision. If a permanent partial lump sum is taken and permanent total benefits are awarded later, Nevada recovers the earlier payment by reducing the permanent total benefit by ten percent until it is repaid. For the federal offset, Social Security uses the full amount that should have been paid rather than the reduced one, so the figure in your compensation letter and the figure in Social Security's calculation are not the same number.
Where your case is decided
Which Hearing Office Decides Your Nevada Disability Claim?
Las Vegas or Reno. The Las Vegas office covers the Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas field offices, and it also takes St George, across the line in Utah. Reno covers northern Nevada.
Four Nevada field offices appear in Social Security's hearing office locator. If the office serving your address is not one of them, the assignment has to be confirmed at Social Security's own locator rather than read off the table, and that is a first-call question rather than something to discover from a hearing notice.
Whichever office it is, the assignment follows the field office serving your address and not the distance, and it changes nothing about the offset rules above.
The two offices
Every Hearing Office That Decides Nevada Disability Claims
Hearing offices
2decide this state's claims
Service area lines name Social Security field offices rather than cities or counties, which is how the assignment is actually made.
Two hearing offices decide Nevada claims: Las Vegas and Reno. Las Vegas also takes claims filed in Utah.
Every field office assignment and office address is on our hearing office routing page.
Average wait times change from month to month. Social Security publishes the average wait time for each hearing office and updates it monthly, so check the office that takes your claim.
Cities we serve in Nevada
Nevada Cities We Serve
We represent claimants across Nevada. Las Vegas has its own page. The hearing office for any address is on the routing page.
Nevada SSDI Questions: The Offset, Lump Sums and Hearing Offices
I read that Nevada is a reverse offset state. Is that right?
It is one of the most commonly repeated errors about Nevada. The state did pass such a law, on July 1, 1981, and Social Security does not recognize plans that took effect after February 18, 1981. Nevada then repealed its own version in 2009. Social Security's manual records both facts and treats Nevada as an ordinary offset state, which means your federal benefit takes the reduction.
So what actually gets reduced?
Your Social Security disability payment. Federal law caps compensation and disability benefits together at a set share of your earnings before the injury, and where the total runs over, Social Security cuts its own payment rather than the state cutting the compensation. Nothing about your workers' compensation check changes because of the federal claim.
Does that apply to a very old claim?
Not necessarily, and this is the one exception in the rules. For claims where disability began before March 1981 or entitlement started before September 1981, Social Security's instructions do recognize the state plan. Anyone in that group is now well past retirement age, so it affects very few people, but it is written into the manual and it is not a mistake if you see it.
I have been offered a lump sum for a permanent partial award. What should I know first?
That the decision is time-limited and that it reaches your federal benefit. Nevada uses an election form for lump sum payment, and a worker has twenty days after it is delivered to reaffirm or retract the request on a second form. Electing the lump sum ends compensation and settles the claim. Social Security spreads that lump sum out and offsets against it, so the structure of the award matters to the monthly figure.
If I take a permanent partial lump sum and later get permanent total, what happens?
The state recovers the earlier payment. Nevada reduces the permanent total benefit by ten percent until the lump sum is recouped, unless the worker refunds it. For federal offset purposes Social Security uses the full permanent total amount that should have been paid, not the reduced one, which is a detail worth checking against any figure you are given.
Which hearing office covers my address if it is not on the list?
Ask rather than assume. Four Nevada field offices appear in Social Security's hearing office locator, three in the south feeding Las Vegas and Reno in the north. If the office serving your address is not among those four, the assignment has to be confirmed at Social Security's own locator rather than read off the table, and we check that on the first call.
Comp claim open in Nevada? Know which check gets smaller.
Free case review, no obligation. We respond within 3 business hours. Tell us where you filed and we will tell you which office your address routes to. We work from Lebanon, Tennessee, with consultations by phone or video. There is no Nevada office and none is implied.