Short Term Disability Benefits and Pregnancy- PLEASE HELP!

For BTDT moms or those who are just infinitly smarter than me, can someone please explain the process to me?

My company does not have private STD but I am entitled to NYS Disability and woud like to find out how I can go about getting those benefit.

My office's HR "department" is not at ALL helpful!

Where do I get the forms? Who fills them out? When can I do this? and if my company requires me to get paid vacation and leave before collecting disability does that mean that I am entitled to 6 weeks of STD AFTER my 5 weeks of vacation/paid leave period ends OR does that mean that I would only get one week of disability?

Also I have heard that you can get STD for up to 2 weeks before you actually deliver is this true? How do you get that?

Re: Short Term Disability Benefits and Pregnancy- PLEASE HELP!

your HR dept shld at least give you a # to the insurance company that hands its disability (FMLA) claims. I remember having to call MET LIFE (my jobs disability company) when I had my kids. They pay abt 60% of my and my job paid the rest. This takes 5 days to kick in so you wld need to use personl/vaca time if you want to get paid for those days. I believe I paid full for 6 weeks & used some of my time for the other weeks.
Your prob better off calling the insurance co youself to see what you need to do since your HR dept blows..

Re: Short Term Disability Benefits and Pregnancy- PLEASE HELP!

when i was at my former company and had DS In 2009, their disability was handled by an outside company. I had a boat load of paperwork to fill out before hand; my dr. had to fill out most of the forms (and charged me for it )

NYS Disablity, short-term for maternity is $150 something dollars a week for 6 weeks. I believe there is that 5 day waiting period before it kicks in.

at my former job, they paid 6 weeks full salary, so i got the $150 disability deducted from my pay so the 2 combined made up my normal paycheck; after that the remaining 6 weeks of FMLA I HAD to use paid sick/vacation time in order to get paid. I had 4 weeks vacay left that year, which luckily carried me through the end of 2009;

You should contact the NYS office and see if there are forms on their website, or see who handles the disability for your company and get in touch with them.

its a load of BS.

Re: Short Term Disability Benefits and Pregnancy- PLEASE HELP!

You can get the NY State ST Disability forms from their website. I printed it out and brought it with me to the Dr's office - the staff there was very helpful and very well versed in filling out disability forms. I filled out the basic parts.

The amount I received from them when I was on leave with DS was a little over $800.

Many companies do not have separate ST Disability coverage - especially now that the economy stinks.

I don't think they will pay you if you are getting paid from your company (even if it's vacation). There is a section in the forms that ask if you are getting paid during the time.

To start disability before you deliver, your Dr has to put you on bedrest.

Message edited 9/20/2011 7:29:04 AM.

Re: Short Term Disability Benefits and Pregnancy- PLEASE HELP!