If you suffer from a long-term or permanent disability, it's possible to receive benefits if you or your employer paid into an insurance policy that covers the injury. The policy will pay you during the time you are disabled, but many people wonder if going back to work will stop these benefits from being paid. Here is what you need to know about working while receiving disability benefits.

Own Occupation Vs. Any Occupation Policies

If your benefits were covered under an own occupation policy, you can go back to work while still receiving your benefits under certain situations. This would apply if you were capable of going back to work, but unable to perform the regular duties associated with your occupation when you were injured. For example, your job may have involved manual labor, and now you cannot do that because of your injury. If you find a job at a new company that is less demanding, such as a desk job, you can still be paid disability benefits because you are unable to perform your own occupation.

Exceptions to this policy include employer accommodations. For example, if you were injured while performing a physical labor job you are unable to return to, your employer could offer you a desk job in the company for similar pay. If you are capable of performing the new job, you would not receive your full benefits.

An any occupation policy makes it more difficult to receive benefits while working. These take multiple factors into consideration, such as your salary history and education. If you are capable of performing a job that is within range of the salary of your previous job, and in line with your education, you would be unable to receive full benefits because you can perform any job in your line of work.

Partial Benefits

Know that going back to work will result in some kind of reduction of benefits as defined by the insurance company, for both own occupation and any occupation policies. The main considerations will be if it is full-time or part-time work, and what your new salary is. If the only job you are capable of getting is part-time with a significantly reduced salary, benefits will not be reduced very much. If you were able to find a similar job in terms of hours and pay, expect to see a significant benefit reduction.

Unfortunately, many of these factors are subject to being decided by the insurance company. If you are not receiving the benefits you deserve after returning to work, you should get in touch with a lawyer that can help fight for your benefits on your behalf. 

For more information, contact a lawyer such as those at http://www.lynnjackson.com.