Short Term Disability (STD) Insurance Q&A

I am on STD and I was recently terminated because I have no more sick time. I pay $20 a week through payroll and I would like to know if my employer has to pay the premium?

First of all, an employer cannot terminate you while you are on STD. If they want to fire you, they have to wait until you return to work from your disability to fire you and the disability cannot be the reason for letting you go. Second, you should not be charged any sick time if you qualify for a short term disability.

So my first recommendation is that you make a complaint with your state's Employment Development and be sure to ask about the family leave medical act (FMLA). They will help you take action against your employer.

Next, since it seems that you are enrolled in a voluntary short term disability which your employer is not obligated to offer, you must check your policy. They are only obligated to pay what is stated in your agreement which could be nothing or it could be up to 100%. Your employer cannot change this arrangement for just an individual such as yourself. However, they can change the arrangement for the group as a whole.

I purchased a Aflac short term disability policy seven months ago because I was told that it covers pregnancy. As can be used for maternity. i am now pregnant and am due to deliver in seven months. What are the steps I need to take to receive my benefits? I was thinking of stopping work a couple weeks before my due date, but i'm wondering how this will affect my Aflac since it is deducted out of my paycheck monthly?

As an Aflac agent, I can tell you the following:

Disability due to pregnancy and childbirth is payable to the same extent as a covered sickness. After the policy has been in force ten months, the maximum benefit period allowed for childbirth is six weeks for non cesarean delivery and eight weeks for cesarean delivery, less the elimination period, unless you furnish proof that you remain disabled beyond these time frames.

You can take off from work and collect your short term disability benefits 10 months after you signed the policy. You are not required to pay any premiums, while you are on disability.

To obtain a claim form for your state, check out this Aflac web page

If you have any further questions, contact your Aflac agent or call 1-800-992-3522

I have a Doctor's note stating not to lift weights heavier than 15 lbs for a period of 5 weeks. Human Resources has approved the doctor's note and says I have to be on Short Term Disability because my job description requires me to lift 50 lbs. However, my department head is thinking about putting me in a different role for those 5 weeks. That would not require me to do heavy lifting.

My questions are:

1) Can I choose short term disability over the desk job or is that up to my department head?

2) How is it legally allowed to keep me in the office and pay me a lower wage just to avoid paying me short term disability?

3) What if the desk job pays me even less than I would have gotten for short term disability payments.

When it comes to short term disability, it is not up to you. It is up to your employer so they can switch you to another position until you are well. However, they cannot pay you less than you would have made on an average week. Since they can't pay you less than you average, this amount will be more than your short term disability benefits, because your benefits will only pay up to 70% of your income.

I was in a car accident and my neck and back suffered a sprain. I have been doing physical therapy and have not been working since for the past two months. My employer does not want to pay for anything else after four weeks of being off so if I go back to work now and still suffer from pain would my whole short term disability process start over?

In California, once returned to work with a doctors release the process starts all over again. However, your employer cannot stop your short term disability benefits. Only your doctor can do this. So it sounds like an idle threat. I suggest you contact your State Employment Development Department to determine your rights. Also, think about filing for disability benefits with your state as you may be entitled to even more benefits.

When I first applied for my insurance i did not apply for short term disability. I am now 8 months pregnant and I have already put on leave. I recently discovered that my employer cancelled my insurance because somebody forgot to include my name. Now, they have re-enrolled me and I opted for short term disability as well. My previous paycheck did not have the premiums deducted so I brought to the attention of my employer. They said i will have to be reinstated. Well, I may have this baby at any time, so what are my rights? If the insurance goes through will I get paid for my maternity leave?

It's going to depend. If someone REALLY forgot to add you to coverage, in the HR department, then your employer is on the hook for whatever benefits you would have gotten, if they HAD put you on the list.

I phrase it that way, because many STD policies EXCLUDE pregnancy. Many more have a waiting period - like 18 months - before coverage for pregnancy kicks in. So you might not have had any coverage anyway. Not to mention that you would have had to a page or premiums every month

Now, in order to get the employer "on the hook", you might have to sue them. Which means, how badly do you want that four weeks paid, at 2/3 your regular rate? In addition, what kind of proof do you have? Without written proof, this will be very difficult to prove.

I pay for my short term disability through work which covers me for 6 months in the event of a disability but could get additional months coverage to compliment my long-term policy which kicks in after 6 months.

Does the premium you pay for a Short-Term group plan cost more if you choose a plan when applying for coverage with a longer duration of coverage, since the insurance company would be taking a greater financial risk having to pay you for additional months?

You are right on the money here. The longer you request to have the insurance company pay a portion of your salary the higher the premium will be. Now this is justifiable by the insurance company because what you are doing is transferring the risk of you becoming disabled and not having any income to pay your bills to the insurance company. Depending on your age the probability of becoming disabled for 90 days or longer prior to age 65 is as follows:

25 yr old: 53.7%
30 yr old: 52.2%
35 yr old: 50.3%
47 yr old: 47.7%
55 yr old: 32.1%

As this table shows (and I have more numbers for other ages if I didn't get yours on here) the younger you are the higher you chances are of becoming disabled for a long period of time than when you are closer to age 65. This doesn't mean that you need to drop your coverage, but it means that once you have hit the retirement age you can.

One other thing to consider when looking at your disability insurance or any other insurance you have, is to look into getting some individual coverage that you can take with you if you decide to change jobs, because what would happen if you decided to take a two week vacation to Mexico in between, did some wild and crazy thing like zip-lining, and fell from 100 ft up in a tree? Now you're stuck because you can't start work at the new place, and your old work policy is no longer in force, (don't laugh at this scenario, it has happen) and now you don't have a pay check to pay your mortgage/rent!

As an Aflac agent, I can tell you that our short term disability insurance is both transferable and affordable. If you are in the San Diego area, feel free to contact me. Otherwise, check out Aflac's website at www.aflac.com

My employer does not offer short term disability insurance. Anybody know of good insurance companies that offer INDIVIDUAL short term disability insurance? I want to purchase my own, personal disability insurance before I have my baby in six months. Do you have any recommendations?

There are many short term disability policies that will cover maternity leave. However, all of them have exclusionary periods, and some of those periods can last up to 18 months. And exclusionary period is the amount of time that you must be with the policy for until you will be able to have a particular disability covered such as pregnancy. The insurance companies do this because otherwise people would only buy insurance when they know that they are going to need it soon and then drop it when they no longer need it.

And with a baby due in six months, that's like placing a bet that you're going to get pregnant when you already know that you are pregnant.

As an Aflac agent, I know that we have the shortest exclusionary period on the market. Our exclusionary period it is only 10 months, and our short term disability policies are very affordable and transferable. Furthermore, Aflac pays out benefits very quickly... most within four days.

Click here for California state disability details

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