Short Term Disability

Short term disability insurance is a type of insurance that pays a certain amount of an employee’s salary for a specific time period. This short term disability can help those who are sick or injured. Due to the short term disability they have, they are temporarily unable to perform their specified job duties. Short term disability insurance is different from regular Social Security disability income.

• The individual usually begins receiving the short term disability money about one to 14 days after they are rendered temporarily disabled and can no longer perform their job duties. Employees are often required to use their available sick days before the short term disability kicks in. It is because of the differences among individuals receiving short term disability insurance due to a serious injury and those receiving short term disability insurance due to an illness that sick days will often be used first.

• A short term disability is often paid for by the employer of the company that the individual is taking a short term disability break from. However, companies do have the option to have employees pay for their own short term disability insurance coverage, with certain tax consequences for the employer. Employers have the right to order that sick days be used by employees first before the employee’s short term disability begins. Employers can also demand a doctor’s note from the employee proving the need for the short term disability.

• There are different qualifications that must be met before an employee can be deemed eligible for short term disability insurance. The first one is that the employee must have worked for the employer full-time before the injury or sickness. This is considered 30 or more hours a week. Employees also have to have been working with the employer for a substantial period of time to qualify for short term disability.

• There are things that an individual should expect when receiving their short term disability plan packages. The percentage of the employees previous weekly salary must be between 50% and 70% of their weekly salary. Unlike regular disability, the time limit that an individual can remain on short term disability insurance, usually between ten and 26 weeks. This time period cannot be extended. If one needs more time, then they must apply for long term disability, which has a more lenient set of regulations about the temporarily disabled person.

Knowing the rules of the state that an individual wants to receive short term disability insurance in is important to find out what they qualify for. The laws about short term disability insurance can vary from state to state.