Getting Long Term Disability Through an Employer

Long Term Disability insurance coverage is most often an employer based and offered insurance benefit that can provide an employer with substantial income should he or she become disabled for a long period of time.  A long term disability insurance policy often pays up to 60 percent of your employment salary when you make a long term disability claim, yet does not kick-in until three to six months after your short term disability benefits expire.

How to Get Long Term Disability From your Employer

When a person gets long term disability from their employer, that is because he or she had been paying their own premiums on the group policy with either before tax or after tax dollars.  Long term disability works like so: 

• If you have a well paying job and somehow you injure yourself, and you soon find out that with the injury you can only work a part time position making a mere fraction of what you made before, then your long term disability would pay out possible full benefits based on the salary that you made prior to the disability.

When Are You Disabled?

Based on the definition of a long term disability, you are considered disabled because, due to your disability, you are not earning at least 80 percent of your former income.  It must be your disability that prevents you from returning back to your normal job.  If your former employer went with a long term disability insurance carrier that offers a dependent care reimbursable benefit, in this case the long term disability carrier will also reimburse you for child care.

If you are seriously injured, and that injury prevents you from engaging in many of your normal activities (i.e. going to work, exercising, etc.) a doctor would need to diagnose your injury as being a long term disability before you would be eligible for disability benefits.  Your long term disability benefits would only kick-in approximately three months after your short term disability benefits ended.  It is at that point that you would be considered to be on long term disability by your employer and your benefits would be indefinite unless your doctor were to give a new prognosis to the insurance company.

Perks of Long Term Disability

Other perks of long term disability coverage include something called a waiver of premium.  This can take place if you are considered disabled and have began to receive your disability benefits.  Upon the start of your disability benefits, your insurance premiums will be waived, which means that you will not have to pay an out-of –pocket premium.

Getting Help

If you have any additional questions about long term disability, contact an experienced disability attorney who can help you understand both your disability insurance policy and the process of making a long term disability claim.