Employment Resource Coordination

Are you looking for help in going to work? Are you worried about losing your benefits or medical coverage?

King County can help!

Many people with developmental disabilities receive funding or services from a variety of government benefit programs, including

• SSI
• Social Security
• Medicare
• Medicaid
• The Waiver through Washington State Developmental Disabilities Division.

Understanding how these different benefits work and relate to one another can be confusing and frustrating. In addition, people with developmental disabilities who are working or want to work are often deeply concerned that their wages will cause them to lose a benefit they need.

An Employment Resource Coordinator can assist people with disabilities and their family members to understand how their benefits work, and how wages may impact those benefits.

Who is eligible? Any individual who resides in King County and who is a client of Washington DSHS/DDD can contact an Employment Resource Coordinator for benefit consultation. Employment Resource Coordinators are available to meet individually or in group settings. Employment Resource Coordinators conduct presentations throughout King County to explain how these different benefit programs work.

In addition to answering questions about benefits, an Employment Resource Coordinator can help people with disabilities understand, develop, and manage Social Security Work Incentives, including:

• Impairment-Related Work Expenses (IRWE)
• Plan to Achieve Self-Support (PASS)
• Student Earned Income Exclusion (SEIE)
• Subsidies and Special Conditions
• 1619(b) status

Work Incentives are tools that can encourage people with disabilities to work. Some work incentives, such as subsidies, SEIE, and 1619(b), help people to work without losing all of their benefits. Other work incentives, such as PASS or IRWE, actually help people afford some of the costs related to being successfully employed.

An Employment Resource Coordinator can review a person's situation during a benefit consultation and help determine what appropriate Work Incentives can be used. The Employment Resource Coordinator can also help the person write the Work Incentive, and, in some cases, assist with managing the specific program.