STD Delimma -- Need Advice

Ethel

We have an STD (company funded) under which our hourly personnel are eligible for benefits after X amount of elimination days. The elimination days vary according to length of employment and are eliminated entirely for anyone with 15 or more years at our company. The plan is set up for l/2 day or full day absence. (Hope that is clear!?!)

The problem is that one of our hourly personnel is claiming that being off for a couple of hours to go the doctor should be paid time for over 15 years employment individuals under the STD. I was wondering what other companies do for hourly employees with long tenure???

irenesmsaclaims

How does your STD plan define "disability"? Normally it is "the inability to do one's job" due to injury or illness. Why wouldn't these over 15-year people use sick leave to go to the doctor? There should be a clear difference in criteria for sick leave vs. STD.

marc

Your STD plan needs to 'dovetail' into your sick leave plan. These are good benefits, but you should not have to pay for more leave than you intended. Make sure the overlaps are not vague and the distinctions between the two are clear.

Betty I_O

Going to the doctor doesn't fit any definition of short-term disablity I've ever seen. We do not pay sick time for doctor appointments; the employee can used accrued personal, vacation, or holiday time for their appointments. If they have none of those accruals left, they take the time unpaid.

LindaS

I agree with Betty - STD should not be set up to pay for time missed due to a physician appointment but rather time missed due to a qualified disability. What qualifies as an illness or injury should be defined in your policy but would not include medical appointments. Our policy allows for partial payment for shortened hours but that is only after an illness or injury has been diagnosed by a physician.