Long-term disability is a form of insurance that offers an employee a portion of his or her income, usually 50% to 75%, during a recovery period from an illness or accident that isn’t work-related. (Worker’s Compensation covers work-related accidents.)
Statistics from The Council For Disability Awareness indicate that:
- About 1 in 4 individuals currently 30 years of age will become disabled and out of work about a year before they reach retirement age
- Most disabling incidents leading to long-term disability are not accidents, but cancer, heart disease, pregnancies, back injuries, and the like
- About 48% of Americans have enough savings for three months of not working due to disability
- The average duration of an LTD claim is 34.6 months, nearly three years
Two laws also govern disability leave:
- The Family Medical Leave Act, which offers 12 weeks of unpaid and job-protected leave per year, which includes benefits, for qualified medical and family medical needs.
- Americans With Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination against those with disabilities.
Many long-term disability claimants will fall under one or both of these acts.
An Employer’s Perspective
Even when an employee is out, a company still has work that needs to be done. Temporary and/or contract help may be hired to fill in if the employee has an estimated return date. If the employee is out longer than previously determined or asks for an extension, employers may take a person off the payroll entirely.
Depending on the company, an employer may attempt to hold your job open while you are recuperating, depending on the expected length of your convalescence. Others may have a set time frame by which they will list the job as vacant, and attempt to hire someone else to fill the position. Still, other companies may hold an employee’s position for a specific time, such as a year, before they consider the employee to not return.
Can You Be Fired?
You actually can be terminated, laid off, furloughed, or outright fired while on LTD.
Receiving benefits from an LTD policy does not offer any job security, and your employment job can end for any reason. Your job can be eliminated due to downsizing, or you can be terminated for other job-performance reasons unrelated to your disability.
However, employers must tread carefully when doing so, or risk expensive litigation.
An employee cannot be fired if:
- He or she is able to do the job with requested reasonable accommodations, but the employer has failed to provide them, whether or not the employee is on FMLA
- He or she is on FMLA leave, whether or not they can still perform the job under the ADA.
After the 12 weeks of FMLA leave ends, an employee can be terminated. Under the ADA, an employee can request reasonable accommodations. If these accommodations don’t cause hardship, the employer is required to provide them, whether it’s a change in work hours, desk adjustments, or other changes that allow an employee to continue in their job in spite of a disability.
What About Benefits?
What happens to your insurance payments if your employment ends? It depends.
If an insurance company is paying your benefits, chances are that won’t change. But if your company is paying your long-term disability, chances are your benefits will end when your employment does.
You must continue medical treatment in order to keep your LTD benefits but may lose your health insurance in the interim. It’s a conundrum, but continued treatment for your condition is vital for a number of reasons.
This is one of the many reasons to carefully review your policy before applying for long-term disability, especially if your policy is company-provided. You’ll need to know exactly what to expect if things change substantially, such as a downsizing or your company going out of business.
Your Houston LTD Disability Attorney
If you’re facing an absence from work due to a long-term disability, but are having trouble, we’re here to help.
We’ve helped over 4,000 Houstonians have received their LTD benefits. The Herren Law Firm can help you with your application, appeals and help you through the process, and give you one less thing to worry about. Contact us today at 713-682-8194 (or use our online contact form) to schedule your free consultation. There’s no obligation and no up-front fees. We only collect if we win your case.