Understanding disability rights is important for workers whose jobs may be at stake, whether they are aware of termination of employment or caught off guard by company announcements.
The months leading up to the 2022 holiday season have not been the best of the year for many white-collar professionals. Startups and technology-oriented companies received the most attention from the media due to their prominent figures and public outrage.
121 companies laid off more than 23,000 workers in the US in October 2022, according to LayoffsTracker.com. By November 21ststanother 108 companies gave pink slips to 51,123 workers, and the previous month looked like its glory days. rice field.
Meta – 11,000 employees (13% of employees)
Amazon – 10,000 employees (3% of employees)
Cisco – 4,165 employees (5% of total workforce)
Twitter – 3,700 employees (50% of employees)
Carvana – 1,500 employees (8% of employees)
Roku – 200 employees (7% of employees)
With so many workers out of work, it’s natural to worry about losing short- and long-term disability insurance benefits. Understanding layoffs and post-employment insurance opportunities can help these professionals stay reassured as they decide how to update their resumes and continue to provide for themselves and their families.
disability insurance benefits
Basic disability insurance monthly benefits are the same for most individual or group long-term disability plans. This means that if you are fully or partially disabled due to illness or injury, you are required to receive income protection payments.
short-term disability. Short-Term Disability (STD) benefits to supplement your monthly income if you suffer a disabling injury or illness that requires treatment and appropriate medical care for a short period of time (usually 12 months or less). I can. STD Income Insurance Replacement Benefits are based on your monthly income and are a percentage of this income that your plan or individual policy pays each month in the event of a covered short-term disability after the waiting period has passed. is based on
long-term disabilityThe typical waiting or exclusion period for long-term disability (LTD) insurance benefits is 30 to 180 days. LTD benefits are provided when an insured person is unable, as a result of an injury or illness, to perform essential duties in his or her regular occupation, or, in some cases, is unable to receive training, education, or suitable employment. Applies.
Most STD and LTD insurance plans cover serious conditions such as heart attacks and mental and physical injuries sustained on and off the job.
The same is true if you develop a disabling illness or are diagnosed with a life-threatening condition such as cancer or neurological disorders. Certain non-life-threatening conditions, such as maternity leave, may also qualify for STDs and LTD.
benefits and dismissal
Depending on the protections provided by various state employment laws, workers already receiving STD benefits can generally be laid off as part of a significant workforce reduction. However, employees do not lose their LTD eligibility as long as the disability begins before their last work day.
DarrasLaw has represented countless clients who have been laid off while receiving short-term disability benefits. This is often a calculated move by employers and is often made at the end of a 12-week vacation due to time taken by the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), but the STD 26 The LTD has not yet started as it takes place before the end of the week (or 180 days).
One of the misconceptions about LTD is the emphasis on the start date of insurance benefits. This can be 30 to 180 days after the failure started. The date of the injury or disability itself is the most important date for the worker, not the date when benefits start to be paid. Subsequent dismissals or layoffs are generally irrelevant so long as the disability began while they were still actively working and employed. has been evaluated and found to be wholly or partially impaired in the employee.
What if you are:
Federal law requires employers with more than 100 employees to give at least 60 days’ notice of mass layoffs. In the case of Amazon’s headcount reduction approach, the e-commerce giant gave its employees about two months’ notice to prepare.
These workers face a higher risk of making any disability claim, even a valid one, after notice of layoff. An insurance company will undoubtedly question such claims regardless of the severity of the illness or injury. For example, if you receive notice of mass layoffs at the end of the day and suddenly begin testing for a long working illness, the insurance company will thoroughly investigate the illness or injury and the validity of your claim. increase. I just realized you were fired.
The insurance industry’s cynicism about such claims is rooted in reality. As the wave of layoffs begins, so do disability applications. The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) has called the housing crisis, which began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009, the “Great Recession.” With this, between 2008 and 2012 he had 1.4 million former workers apply for disability insurance benefits.
As NBER reported in 2019:
Of this group, about 1 million people were induced to apply by the recession and would not otherwise have applied, while the rest applied later but would have accelerated the timing of their application due to the recession. . One million induced applicants accounted for nearly 12% of all claims filed during this period.
This influx of disability claims has put a heavy strain on Social Security and private insurance companies, bodies that go to great lengths to avoid a repeat of recent history.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics classifies most technology companies into the “Information” and “Professional and Business Services” categories. One of the consolations of losing this kind of job is that STD and LTD benefits usually don’t stop on the day of your dismissal. In fact, if you file a timely and comprehensive insurance claim and have good medical support, your benefits may continue for weeks or months after your employment ends.
Before filing a short-term or long-term disability insurance claim, employees in all industries should contact an experienced long-term disability insurance attorney to protect their benefits if they lose their job. Good documentation and reliable, objective testing can make a world of difference. Remember, receiving layoff notice does not mean that your illness or injury will not be covered.
