Short-term Disability

Short-term disability coverage, provided by Unum, provides faculty and staff paid leave for illnesses and injuries lasting more than 14 or 30 days, up to 22 or 24 weeks, depending on which option you choose. You must exhaust all of your sick time prior to the short-term disability benefit providing income replacement. See the short-term disability plan document for more information. To enroll in short-term disability benefits, please visit Workday and Unum will contact you for the Evidence of Insurability process if it is applicable. You may enroll at any time as a late enrollee. For enrollment questions, please contact HR Shared Services at (814) 865-1473.

• Benefits are based on a per $10 of weekly benefit calculation
• Benefit amount is 60% to a maximum benefit of $1,500 per week.
• Maximum weekly covered salary is $2,500 ($130,000 of annual income)

Example: Employee earning $80,000 per year

Calculation: Annual base salary divided by 52 to determine weekly income

Weekly income ($1,538) x 60% = Weekly benefit ($923)

14-day elimination period option rate = .395

Monthly cost: .395 X $923 = $364 divided by $10 = $36.46 per month (Rate x weekly benefit divided by $10 = monthly contribution)

30-day elimination period option rate = .265

Monthly cost: .265 x $923 = 244.60 divided by $10 = $24.46 (Rate x weekly benefit divided by $10 = monthly contribution)

Pre-existing Condition

Beginning Monday, April 1, 2019, the pre-existing condition clause is no longer apply to short-term disability benefits for any non-work-related illness or injury that began April 1, 2019 or later. This applies to all University employees currently enrolled in the short-term disability benefit plan with UNUM. Any non-work-related illness or injury that occurred prior to Monday, April 1, 2019 would still be subject to the pre-existing condition terms below as well as late enrollees going through the Evidence of Insurability (EOI) process.

The pre-existing period is 3 months prior to and 12 months after the effective coverage date. You have a pre-existing condition if:

• You received medical treatment, consultation, care or services including diagnostic measures, or took prescribed drugs or medicines in the 3 months just prior to your effective date of coverage; and
• the disability begins in the first 12 months after your effective date of coverage.

For example, if your effective date of coverage is January 1, 2019 and you received treatment for a condition during October, November or December 2018, and then applied for short-term disability benefits in March 2019 for that same condition, your claim would not be approved.

 Claims

To file a disability claim, contact Unum. There are two methods to initiate your claim:

Phone: 1-866-860-2066

Online: www.unum.com/claims

Please see the short-term disability claim instructions. During your disability, you will be required to communicate your status with Unum and provide them with updates from your physician. Unum has a mobile app you can use to communicate and upload your supporting documents. During your leave of absence, you will work with Absence Management for all of your information and status updates. Please contact them at absence@psu.edu or (814) 865-1782.