Amp Up Your Skills with the Electrical Orientation Level III Exam 2026 – Brighten Your Future!

Disability benefits require two things: you must be totally disabled, and you must have worked in covered employment within a window before the disability begins. That window is five years. The idea behind this recent-work rule is to ensure you have contributed to the program recently enough to establish eligibility and have a payroll-based basis for benefits. Covered employment means jobs where earnings are subject to the program’s payroll taxes, so your recent work shows you’ve paid into the system and are entitled to benefits if you become disabled. If you haven’t worked in covered employment within that five-year period, you generally wouldn’t qualify, even with total disability.