Question: I am currently 65 years old. My question is, can I apply for and receive Social Security and Unemployment Compensation benefits? Some people say they can’t, but others say they can. Which is the right answer? I live in Massachusetts.
Answer: I have received questions about whether a person can collect Social Security (“SS”) retirement benefits and unemployment benefits at the same time. Many people think that they cannot do this.
The concept that you can’t collect both benefits at the same time comes from past history when, in fact, you couldn’t collect both. SS is a federal program and unemployment compensation is a state program. Years ago, a federal law required states to offset unemployment benefits with some or all of the Social Security that a person was receiving. Fortunately, federal law was changed to allow individual states to make the decision on how this compensation is handled.
Most states changed state law to allow full retirement benefits without compensation due to SS retirement benefits. Currently, only Louisiana and Illinois offset unemployment benefits with Social Security retirement benefits. South Dakota has changed its law, but the law has yet to be enacted, so if you live in South Dakota, check with your state unemployment agency when it will take effect.
The original federal law was enacted at a time when people were retiring at a much younger age and those who were still working and could claim unemployment were a minority. As our population has aged and we are working well past the age to collect SS, this had to change and thank God it has in most states.
So if you live in Louisiana, Illinois, and possibly South Dakota, your unemployment benefits will be reduced by fifty percent of your Social Security benefits. However, anything is better than nothing, so go ahead and file for your unemployment. In all other states, you will get all unemployment benefits.
