How do you apply for SSDI or SSI disability benefits in Arizona?

Arizona is missing from the U.S. Department of Labor's 2023 list of places with a state temporary disability insurance program (California, Hawaii, New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, and Rhode Island). Paid time off for your own illness here comes from your employer, under the state's earned paid sick time law, not from a state fund.

SSDI or SSI: which Social Security program fits you

Both come from Social Security and both pay monthly, but they serve different people.

Social Security explains who qualifies for each on its SSI page and its disability page.

How to apply to Social Security

1. Apply online, by phone, by mail, or in person at a Social Security field office.
2. By phone, call 1-800-772-1213, 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. local time, Monday through Friday. The TTY number for deaf and hard of hearing callers is 1-800-325-0778.
3. Disability Determination Services, a state agency paid for entirely by the federal government, gathers your medical evidence and makes the first decision on whether you are disabled. DES lists Arizona's Disability Determination offices at (800) 352-0409 in Phoenix and (800) 362-6368 in Tucson; they are part of the Social Security process, not a separate state benefit.
4. Social Security says a disability application takes 200 to 230 days on average to review, and the decision comes by mail.

Vocational Rehabilitation from DES

DES's Vocational Rehabilitation program helps people with disabilities prepare for work, get a job, and keep one. You may qualify if all of these are true:

• you have a physical or mental disability;
• it makes it hard for you to get or keep a job;
• you need VR services to prepare for, find, keep, or return to work;
• the services can help you reach a job goal.

To apply, call or visit a VR office near you, or email a referral form, which comes in English or Spanish, fillable or large print. For general information or help with a referral, call 1-800-563-1221. DES's contact list gives Rehabilitation Services at (602) 542-3332, and its office locator finds DES offices near you. If you disagree with a VR decision, send a written appeal within 20 calendar days of receiving the decision letter. Details are on the DES Vocational Rehabilitation page.

If you were hurt on the job: workers' compensation

The Industrial Commission of Arizona enforces the state's workers' compensation laws, along with its laws on workplace safety, payment of wages, and child labor. It charges no fee to process a workplace injury claim, and you can apply for workers' compensation directly with it at no cost. It warns of scammers who ask for money to handle a claim.

Under Arizona's workers' compensation law:

• you must report the accident and the injury to your employer right away;
• your employer must tell its insurance carrier and the Industrial Commission of Arizona within 10 days of learning of the accident;
• your written claim must reach the commission within one year after the injury, counted from when the injury became apparent or when you knew, or should have known, that you had one.

For help with a workplace injury, call the Commission's Claims Division at (602) 542-4661 in Phoenix or (520) 628-5181 in Tucson, or its Resource Office at (602) 542-4538 for help with a process or procedure. The Claims Division's mailing address is PO Box 19070, Phoenix AZ 85005, and its fax is (602) 542-3373. Its office addresses are on the Claims Division page.

A work injury can also change your unemployment claim. If workers' compensation for a temporary total disability left you without enough recent wages to qualify, Arizona law lets DES use an alternate base period built from your wages before the disability. You must file by the 4th calendar week of unemployment after the disability ends, file within the time limit the law counts from the day it began, and have tried to return to the job where it happened. Who qualifies for unemployment in Arizona has the full test.

When a disability meets an unemployment claim

Arizona law pays unemployment only for weeks in which you are able to work and available for work. DES's handbook puts it this way: you must be mentally and physically able to work at a job you are qualified for by experience, education, or training, and you are not eligible while sick or otherwise not able to work. Being available also means being ready to accept full-time work, to report when the employer asks, and to have the transportation, clothing, licenses, and tools the work needs.

A disability that limits you to part-time work does not by itself end a claim. DES's availability rule says a claimant unable to work full time because of an established disability is not ineligible while they seek work up to the limit of the disability, are not completely unable to work, and can work part time, as medical evidence shows. Its rule on ability to work gives an example: someone who cannot work longer than 4 hours a day because of chronic pain is still able to work as long as they look for, and will take, part-time work of up to 4 hours a shift. Someone completely unable to work is ineligible. You back up the disability with documents such as doctor's notes, military papers, or a court judgment.

Receiving disability compensation, such as workers' compensation, makes DES presume you are not able to work, but its rule says that is not conclusive: DES must get evidence of your physical capacities rather than decide on the compensation alone.

• Your weekly claim asks about it. Each weekly claim covers your ability to work and your availability that week, so answer for the week you are claiming.
• Illness or injury can raise an issue. DES lists it among the situations that can affect eligibility. If staff ask, you fill out the Report of Illness or Physical Disability (UB-296, or UB-296-S in Spanish); do not send it unless they do.
• You can ask for an accommodation. DES's Office of Equal Opportunity takes requests for a disability accommodation. At an appeal hearing, the Office of Appeals provides an interpreter, including a sign language interpreter, if you ask in advance at the number on your Notice of Hearing or in CACTUS.
• Ask before you assume. DES's paper application asks about SSI and SSDI only inside an optional question on disclosing a disability, which you can decline to answer. If you get or have applied for SSDI or SSI, ask the UI Call Center at 1-877-600-2722 how it affects your claim.