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SSA logo: link to Social Security Online home 968. The Included-Excluded Rule

968.1 What happens if part of an employee's work is covered by Social Security and part is not covered by Social Security?

When part of your work during a pay period is covered by and part excluded from Social Security and all of the work is being performed for one employer, the following rules apply:

  1. All of your work in that pay period is covered if 50 percent or more of your time during the pay period is spent in covered work; and

  2. All of your work in that pay period is excluded if more than 50 percent of your time during the pay period is spent in excluded work.

968.2 What does "pay period" mean?

The term pay period means the period of not more than 31 consecutive calendar days for which the employer ordinarily pays the employee. Where there are seasonal fluctuations, there may be one customary seasonal pay period and another customary non-seasonal pay period.

Last Revised: Jun. 30, 2004

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Last reviewed or modified Monday Jan 14, 2008

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