The determination of a claimant’s physical exertional capability is critical in cases involving occupational assessment. The U.S. Department of Labor has created specific categories, “sedentary,” “light,” “medium” and “heavy,” to define the physical requirements of various jobs; and the Social Security Administration utilizes the same terminology in its disability insurance program.
Short-term and long-term disability plans are supposed to provide workers and professionals with coverage to make ends meet when a serious medical impairment or injury takes the person away from work. Not everybody participates in these insurance plans. In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics says the roughly 39 percent of people working in private […]
A recent ruling from a federal court in Kentucky raised serious concerns about the validity of vocational assessments performed by disability insurance companies.
In Bishop v. Aetna Life Insurance Co., 2016 WL 591765 (E.D. Ky., Feb. 12, 2016), the court overturned a denial of disability benefits after finding that Aetna improperly disregarded a Social Security determination and that its vocational assessment was markedly flawed and biased.
Although death and taxes are both viewed as inevitabilities, when it comes to disability insurance benefits, taxes may be avoidable.
According to Revenue Ruling 2004-55 (June 28, 2004), long-term disability insurance premiums paid on an after-tax basis result in a non-taxable benefit. Hence, many employers structure their group long-term disability benefit plans in that manner to provide a nontaxable benefit to their employees in the event they become disabled.
A decision by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois takes into account the role of weekends in extending ERISA deadlines.
DeBofsky, Sherman & Casciari recently won the case of Warner v. Unum Life Ins. Co., No. 12 C 02782, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 178765 (N.D. Ill. Dec. 31, 2014), where the district court granted summary judgment for the plaintiff, ruling that Unum Life Insurance Company (“Unum”) acted arbitrarily and capriciously by disregarding the results of […]