Disability Benefits & Leave of Absence
If you become ill, injured or family issues prevent you from working, we provide time off benefits to support you when you’re away from work. Disability benefits and leave of absence benefits protect you and your family from financial hardship due to an illness or injury that keeps you from working.
Disability Benefits
Disability benefits help protect a portion of your income if you’re unable to work because of a qualified illness or injury. tkAT provides disability coverage designed to help support your financial wellbeing while you’re focused on recovery.
Note: Some benefits described here may vary for employees covered by a Collective Bargaining Agreement. If you are represented by a union, refer to your Collective Bargaining Agreement for benefit details that apply to you.
Short-Term Disability
Company-paid Short-Term Disability benefits help replace a portion of your income if you’re unable to work because of a qualified illness or injury.
Key Features
- 66.67% income replacement
- Up to $2,500 per week
- Benefits begin:
- Day 1 for accident-related disabilities
- Day 8 for illness-related disabilities
- Benefits may continue for up to six months
Long-Term Disability (LTD)
Long-Term Disability benefits provide ongoing income protection if a qualifying illness or injury prevents you from returning to work after six months of an approved disability due to illness or injury.
Salaried Employees
- Company-paid coverage
- 60% income replacement or your monthly earnings
- Up to $10,000 per month
- Benefits may continue until normal retirement age
- Eligibility begins the first of the month after date of hire
Eligible Hourly Employees
- Available through payroll deductions
- 60% income replacement of your monthly earnings
- Up to $10,000 per month
- Eligibility begins after six months of employment
Your disability policy has an elimination period, meaning that you have to miss so many days of work before benefits start paying. People either recover or use their sick/vacation time, or take this part of their leave as unpaid. Once your benefits are approved, they will remain active for the duration of the time your doctor indicates you’ll be unable to work, or until they are exhausted. Check out your disability policy certificate on your benefit enrollment site.
What if my medical situation changes?
Your doctor can submit revised paperwork if your recovery goes faster than expected or your treatment needs to be extended. Making sure that your doctor submits revised paperwork appropriately is very helpful to avoid gaps in benefits.
Speed up the approval process!
When filing your initial claim, have all your doctor’s contact information available to supply (office name, phone number, email, address, fax number, etc.) and let them know that they’re going to have to fill out some paperwork. This won’t be the first time they’ve done this.
Check in with your assigned case manager, and if they haven’t received your doctor’s information yet, call the doctor’s office and see what the holdup is.
Family & Medical Leave Act
Your approved leave for medical or family reasons can also be covered under FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act). This type of leave is in effect during the same period as any disability benefits, and has no direct monetary benefit, but does protect your job so that it’s waiting for you when you’re able to return.
Reach out to your leave administrator to find out if your leave qualifies.
You are entitled to up to a total of 12 weeks of leave in a 12-month period for:
- Birth and subsequent care of a newborn child
- Placement of a child for adoption or foster care and the subsequent care of the child
- Care of your eligible family member’s serious health condition
- A qualifying exigency leave related to a family members military deployment
- Your inability to work due to a serious health condition
Who is covered by FMLA?
Employees who have been employed for 1 year and worked at least 1,250 hours during that time are eligible.
Additional benefits are available for absences due to military service member deployment.
Resources
tkAT Benefit Guide
Detailed plan comparisons, premium information, and additional features.
