Know your benefits
Short-term disability plan
Dec 6, 2007 12:36 PM
For members on unpaid sick leave ...
In-service UFT members have the protection of a short-term disability plan that can provide valuable income when personal illness renders them temporarily unable to work. (This benefit does not provide coverage for injuries-in-the-line-of-duty or no-fault claims, which provide their own set of benefits.)
Teachers and other pedagogues approved for this benefit would receive $350 a week up to a maximum of 28 weeks, while paraprofessionals and other groups in the same salary range would receive $250 per week up to a maximum of 28 weeks.\
Eligibility criteria
To qualify for the disability benefit, members must have exhausted their sick bank (Cumulative Absence Reserve) and been removed from the Department of Education payroll. After a member has used up his or her CAR (and any borrowed sick days), there is an unpaid waiting period of 28 consecutive days for pedagogues and an unpaid waiting period of 14 consecutive days for non-pedagogues and paraprofessionals that must be satisfied before the disability benefit payment would begin. The difference in the length of the waiting period reflects the “DOE grace period” for which eligible pedagogues can apply that provides approximately two weeks of pro-rated salary.
A member must be on an authorized leave of absence without pay for restoration of health or a Family and Medical Leave Act leave for personal illness.
Application process
When you become temporarily disabled and have exhausted your CAR, you must file through your school’s payroll secretary for a leave of absence without pay for restoration of health or a Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave for personal illness. As part of this DOE filing, your doctor must complete a confidential medical report form (DOE form-OP407) documenting your disability.
To begin the process of applying for disability benefits, members should call the UFT Welfare Fund Disability Unit at 1-212-539-0500 to request a disability claim form (DBL1 Initial Application). You need to attach a copy of the DOE’s approval of your unpaid sick leave to the completed claim form.
Upon receipt of your claim form, the Fund will assign you a disability representative who can answer any questions you might have. Your application will be reviewed by the Fund’s Medical Advisor, who will determine if you are disabled and, if so, the length of the disability period. Benefit payments will begin after the Medical Advisor approves your claim and the Fund has received all required information and documentation.
Maternity-related disability
Benefits for maternity-related disability are provided for a maximum of six weeks after normal deliveries and eight weeks after Caesarean sections. These are considered routine pregnancies. However, for complicated pregnancies, a member may be entitled to up to 28 weeks of disability benefits, as determined by the Fund’s Medical Advisor.
The same eligibility rules (i.e., no more days in your CAR, unpaid waiting period) apply for maternity-related disabilities as other disabilities.
