An individual who resides in a penal institution such as a jail or prison for a full calendar month can no longer receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits. Individuals who are incarcerated must notify the Social Security Administration (SSA) of their changed status with respect to the incarceration. Payments that are received in the face of a jail term lasting longer than a month will be considered overpayments and must be repaid. Though a prisoner's social security benefits are suspended while he remains incarcerated, the payment of benefits to his eligible family members will be unaffected. With respect to SSDI benefits, individuals who are in jail awaiting trial will continue to receive their benefits until such time that they are convicted.
The Black Lung Benefits Act provides for total disability claims for United States miners suffering from pneumoconiosis (aka black lung disease), which was contracted due to their employment. Originally, a "miner" was considered to be a person who was employed in an underground coal mine. However, subsequent amendments to the Act deleted the "underground" requirement so that miners working in above-ground environments would also be covered.
The central question of whether a given state can apply its workers' compensation statute focuses on various factors including the place that the employment contract was entered into, the place of the employee's injury, and the employee's usual place of employment. For example, an employee who entered into an employment contract with a construction company in California, and who was subsequently injured on a construction site in Nevada, may be able to seek workers' compensation benefits in both California and Nevada. However, double recoveries are generally not permitted.
The issue of "dependency," with respect to the receipt of workers' compensation death benefits, is generally determined either as of the date of the worker's death or the date of the accident that caused his death. Those individuals who are, therefore, "dependents" on the requisite date will be eligible to receive death benefits in an amount commensurate with the measure of dependency on the worker, i.e. total or partial dependency.
All states provide some measure of workers' compensation coverage for those individuals employed in the public sector. Most states provide protection generally for all public employees. Others, however, identify specifically those public occupations for which coverage is extended. There are several key occupations for which coverage is often extended. These include sheriffs and police officers, firefighters, teachers, and National Guard personnel.
