Available relief before Long-Term Disability Benefits

The best time to apply for Long Term Disability benefits is before you need to rely on them. This means that it is best to make the application while you are receiving benefits from some other source. The two main sources of pre-LTD benefits are:

Sick Pay

Some employers will offer to pay sick days as an employment benefit. Some employees are able to bank paid sick days and carry them from year to year. Paid sick days will be the first point of access for compensation when absent from the workplace due to illness or injury. That is exactly what the employment benefit was made for.

Short-Term Disability

You may have a Short-Term Disability plan through your employer. This benefit will allow for the continuation of your salary while absent from the workplace for a specified amount of time. Typically, this benefit will last for 30-90 days. Short-term disability benefits are not intended for the worker who will be off for a prolonged period of time.

Employment Insurance (EI) Sickness Benefits

If you do not have sick pay or short-term disability benefits, you may need to access EI Sickness benefits. The benefit is lasts for 15 weeks. This is only a temporary benefit, though it does offer a window for a worker to prepare for and apply to the Long-Term Disability Benefits provider.

This means that you should apply for the benefit before the end of your Short-Term Disability coverage expires.

In most LTD plans, there is an Elimination Period which must be passed before benefits will be paid. The Elimination Period is set by the terms of the policy, it could be 60,90, 120, or 150 days, or some other length.

Questions about applying for LTD?

Jeff Mitchell is an experienced Long Term Disability Benefits Lawyer who has successfully advanced his client’s interests before the Nova Scotia Public Service Trust Fund. To book your free consultation, call toll-free: 1-855-670-1345 or 902-702-3452. Prefer to email? Email Jeff at jeff@novainjurylaw.com.