Non-Medical Requirements for Long Term Disability Claims

If you have a long term disability policy through your employer or you have an individual policy that you purchased on your own, you may be able to receive disability benefits to replace most or part of your salary if you are unable to work. Unfortunately, there is a lot of paperwork and red tape involved before you start to receive your benefits.

There are usually non-medical requirements for long term disability insurance benefits, such as being a “full-time” employee. Your LTD policy will outline important information like wait periods, disability definition, and the minimum number of working hours to qualify for benefits. 

What Does Your Long Term Disability Policy Say?

The first thing you need to do is read through your LTD policy.

You can pick up a copy of your plan from your employer’s human resources department. Sometimes human resource departments will try to delay providing you with this documentation. If you request a copy verbally or in-person and you do not get a response within 7-10 days, send a letter requesting a copy of your policy. If you are provided with a summary of benefits but the summary does not answer all of your questions, you need to request a copy of your full policy.

In the alternative, you may request a copy of the disability plan/policy directly from the insurance company.

Minimum Work Hours

In general, most LTD policies require you to work full-time (35 hours or more, or as otherwise defined in your policy) per week over a period of time. The exact working-hour requirements will be outlined in your policy. Be sure that you have worked this minimum amount before applying for benefits.

Elimination or Waiting Periods

In most cases, the LTD policy will have a “waiting period” – sometimes called an “elimination period.” This is the period of time that you have to wait to receive benefits. For long term disability claims, this is typically between 90 and 180 days (but check your specific policy for the exact number of days). You will also usually be required to exhaust your short-term disability before you can apply for long term disability.

Legal Representation in LTD Claims

If your LTD claim has been wrongfully denied and you’d like to speak to an experienced Long Term Disability Insurance Attorney about your denied claim, call us at (888) 321-8131 to schedule a consultation. We can help you evaluate your claim to determine if you will be able to access Long Term Disability Benefits and how to move forward with the process. Although based in Florida, the Ortiz Law Firm represents claimants across the United States.