Disability through the HR lens

Disability insurance is something that has catapulted to the forefront of many employers and their employees’ minds over the past year. Many see the value of this coverage for the peace of mind it provides if someone were to miss work due to a covered injury or illness. May is disability insurance awareness month, and what better way to kick us off than by talking to three HR employees who interact with disability insurance almost every day? 

Joining me for this discussion are three of my colleagues from Lincoln Financial Group - Mindy Jarecki, Sr. Consultant – HR Business Management, Keshia Hamoud - Leave Management Specialist, and Amanda Petersen - Absence Claims Director. During this episode, we cover everything from common questions around disability to advice for employers when working with their employees on a disability claim.

AM-LAAHR-AUD001   02/24  Z01  LCN-6420753-022224
©2024 Lincoln National Corporation. All rights reserved. 

Transcript

Chris Takesian: 0:01

Hello, again, listeners Chris Takesian here, product marketing manager for leave and disability at Lincoln Financial Group. During the month of May you probably hear a lot about the benefits of disability insurance, and this is no coincidence. May is disability insurance awareness month. And to further raise awareness, we have a great episode ahead. For this discussion, I've asked three team members from Lincoln's HR team, Mindy Jarekci, Keshia, Hamoud, and Amanda Peterson to come and discuss disability insurance through their lens. All right, well, thank each of you for joining me today. I think this is a really great topic and I'm really excited for our discussion. So thank you again.. So, to level set with the audience, I thought it'd be good if we kind of first went around, uh, this virtual table we're sitting at and, and have everybody introduce themselves. Tell me a little bit about yourself as well as what you do here at Lincoln.

Amanda Petersen: 0:52

Sure. Um, so I'm the director over an integrated absence team of roughly 50 claims specialist. I like to say that we really administer all the things we oversee the handling of short-term disability, statutory disability, paid family medical leave, FMLA state leaves, and company leaves for our employers as that fully integrated claims experience.

Mindy Jarecki: 1:14

My job at Lincoln is as a human resources business partner. And so my role within the company is to partner with our employees and assist them with any HR related questions that they might have, help guide them through their career here at Lincoln. And often when it comes to disability, I'm the first point of contact for employees. They'll call me to ask about how a leave of absence would work. And I direct them to our absence management team to start that process.

Keshia Hamoud: 1:46

And my role is within our human resources and operations area as a leave administration specialist, to ensure that our company's leave policies are compliant with federal and state regulations, all while ensuring a high quality employee experience. My role also includes providing policy interpretation, guidance, and problem solving to our leave administration associates. And I work closely with our absence administrators and with Amanda's area within group protection, as well as with our internal partners, such as our HR business partners, our legal and payroll and our benefits teams.

Chris Takesian: 2:23

Awesome! And just to recap with the audience, uh, we were first introduced to Amanda, then we had Mindy and then we had Keshia. So thank you again all for joining me and introducing yourselves. In jumping into the next question. How about like your interaction with disability? I know you briefly touched on in your introduction, um, or how to facilitate a disability. How does that, how does that work in your role?

Mindy Jarecki: 2:43

So I'll go. Cause I think usually, like I said, I'm sometimes the first point of contact for an employee. So when an employee thinks that they may need to go out on a leave, they likely will either contact somebody in human resources, such as myself or, or they might go to their manager and the manager might reach out to me to ask, you know, how does this process work? Where do they get started? So I do have a lot of employees that will call with those questions. You know, how long can I be out? How will I get paid? Is my job going to be protected if I go out on a leave? So those are some of the things that I initially work with employees on to give them information about how the leave process works, what their benefits are. And then I hand them over to our absence management team to start that process of applying for a leave of absence and getting their documentation.

Amanda Petersen: 3:32

Thanks Mindy. So my team spends a majority of the day kind of facilitating then those disability and leave claims. So really, you know, they're setting expectations with the employees about the paperwork that needs to be returned and they're making outgoing calls and kind of educating the employee on their benefit and maybe their job protection, depending on what absence types are applicable to their leave. So really just opening up that conversation, setting those expectations and then helping that employee through this time in their life.

Keshia Hamoud: 4:03

My role includes supervising the day-to-day operations of our leave associates within HR operations who manage the coordination of those state insurance benefits with our company' paid disability leave programs. This includes validating and auditing the data of our internal HR and payroll systems and confirming eligibility and validating data reported by employees for state benefits, ensuring integrity of the data reported to our vendors and maintaining access to individuals of state online disability and family leave programs and occasionally contacting state offices for validation purposes.

Chris Takesian: 4:42

Excellent! So we're definitely in good hands here when we're talking about disability insurance. So it being disability insurance awareness month, I've got to kick us off with a question related to disability insurance. Um, having so many different view points on this episode, I think will be really interesting to see how each of you views the importance of disability insurance. So could we go around and have each of you talk about why you think this coverage is so important?

Amanda Petersen: 5:06

Absolutely. So to me, disability insurance can truly be that employee's lifeline when they encounter an unexpected injury or when they need time away from work to heal from an illness. There can be a general misconception of thinking, Oh, that will never happen to me, but it can, right. And odds are, it likely will throughout the course of an employee's working lifetime. So being able to have the assurance and that peace of mind of disability insurance is so important to an employee's overall wellbeing and really their financial planning.

Mindy Jarecki: 5:38

Yeah, I would agree. I think it really helps the employee to feel valued that they know that the company cares about them. That, you know, we want to see them get better, whether it be a surgery or an illness that they have, or that we want them to return to work, that their a valued part of the team and that we're willing to give them that time off to deal with the situation that they're going through. I think, you k now, without disability insurance, y ou k now, turnover would be so much higher and there would be so much more cost to the employer. If we didn't have the ability to offer this time off for an employee, we would see employees that just wouldn't return to work after an injury or an illness.

Keshia Hamoud: 6:18

Yeah, I think we all agree on the same point there and that the disability insurance is an important part. And my opinion it's important to the success of the country's economy and benefit availability, whether it be at the state or the employer level or an employee's personal level. Um, if they have that, you know, from a personal standpoint, but ensuring that the economy, you know, remain sound is dependent upon families, having steady income and disability insurance helps to provide financial security during periods of time that already uncertain and stressful. So individuals to be able to focus on healing. So having that is critical to the success of our country, making sure that our employees have that benefit.

Chris Takesian: 6:58

Absolutely, a lot of good points there. I know we hear the, it won't happen to me. We hear that a lot. Um, in the, the research that we do, as well as the financial preparedness, that's a, that's another great. And then the employer benefits, so excellent points all around and things. We certainly hear a lot out there. So has your view of disability insurance changed or maybe strengthened since the onset of the pandemic? You know, people are looking at their benefits like they never have before, has this changed or strengthened your view?

Amanda Petersen: 7:28

Um, personally I've always been passionate about disability insurance, so I can't necessarily say that my view has changed, but it has absolutely been reinforced right. Throughout the pandemic, I'd say we saw different levels of engagement from employees and in the beginning, you know, candidly, we were experiencing some very scared and panicked employees, whether that be from their actual illness or from the fear of potentially losing their job. But I think that's one of the things that can make our job so rewarding is when you're able to make a difference in someone's life and offer them that lifeline and kind of glimpse into the future.

Mindy Jarecki: 8:04

And Chris, I think, when you said a lot of people say I'll never need to use my disability insurance. I think there's a lot of people that probably used it for the first time in the last year with the pandemic. We saw a huge increase in the amount of claims that were filed with Lincoln. And I think a lot of people probably use their disability insurance for the first time ever.

Keshia Hamoud: 8:26

Right. And I agree with Amanda that this has definitely reinforced my passionate feelings for disability insurance. I've been in human resources for over 23 years and been part of our leave administration and benefits of disability insurance that entire time on some levels, most of our employees are eligible and thankful for the job to take the family and medical leave, you know, that protects their job during the leave of absence. But the paid benefits offered through the disability insurance are to their financial security in their family system. So although my view of the disability insurance hasn't changed, um, employees are more inclined to share their personal experiences and the impact of their family life during their disability leave. That's what I found more that, you know, people are more open about what exactly is going on with them.

Chris Takesian: 9:15

Yeah. Now more than ever before, I would say, and research shows us really going back to those kind of common, uh, leave reasons that the most common disability submittals are related to maternity mental health and physical injury, starting with maternity claims. Are there questions that you see come in frequently from employers or employees that you could help provide some clarification or direction on?

Amanda Petersen: 9:37

So in my space in claims, you know, we receive a lot of questions about an employee potentially needing time off work prior to their delivery. Um, you know, and how much time would be supported on a claim standpoint. Claims is rarely a black and white situation. So we have to evaluate specific circumstances kind of surrounding each employee's leave. So for example, an employee who has a heavy occupation may be supported for some time prior to their delivery, while an employee who has like a sit in the office occupation may not be supported for that same time period. It really just kind of depends on the conditions and the facts behind, you know, the maternity or the reason for the claim. One thing I do love about Lincoln though, is that our claims specialists have a lot of these tools at their disposal when evaluating unique claim situations. So we can consult with our clinical staff and we can run things by our claims manager, right. Just to ensure that we are evaluating each claim to its entirety.

Keshia Hamoud: 10:33

Right. And I agree with Amanda with the maternity leaves, that is where a lot of the questions are, um, where employees have questions about coordinating their benefits, the expectant and new moms, you know, they may want to ensure that they can take time away from work for pregnancy related care beforehand, as well as stay home as long as possible after the baby comes. So in my world an d H R operations, my team we're ensuring that we're reviewing our company leave policies and how they coordinate with those state leaves that Amanda's team then, you know, those federal plans and those paid plans. So we're trying to ensure that al l o ur plans and that coordination that's available to the employees. And managers have the same questions, but they're based around ensuring that th ey a r e n ot infringing, yo u k n ow, always protected rights during a disability period or another leave of a b sence. So the direction that I would offer is for the employees that they're keeping the lines of communication open, but, you know, offering those same benefits. So th e q uestions are always around coordinating benefits during their leave.

Mindy Jarecki: 11:38

The biggest question I get from mothers, you know, about their leave is about again, how long can they be out with the new baby. And then how do their benefits get paid for that amount of time. It seems to be that lately a lot more questions are coming up again about how the disability insurance that we offer through Lincoln intersects with different state laws. And there's a lot of new, different types of leaves depending on what state the employee lives and works in. And so we're getting a lot more questions about how things are working in each state, because they're all becoming so different from state to state.

Amanda Petersen: 12:15

I agree, Mindy, we are absolutely seeing, you know, States kind of differ on their approach. Um, now we're at the point where each shade is kind of coming out fresh new year and they're all different, right? Like kinda, almost like they're, one-upping the last state that went through with some of the new things that are coming on. So it'll be interesting, I think as we continue to go down this path and if we see, you know, like a federal level paid family leave, or if it does continue to be state by state, but I think it's going to be interesting how that plays out and I'm excited to watch it.

Chris Takesian: 12:45

Yeah, and on top of that, you add a layer of complexity over the past year with people working from home. So their office is in a different state than where they live and all that complexity. So I'm sure a lot of questions coming through and, you know, with the impacts of COVID-19 and in may, um, is actually not only is it disability insurance awareness month, it's also mental health awareness month. And I know that that's something that has catapulted to the forefront of so many employers minds, you know, managing all these different employees with different working situations. Are there ways from your perspective that employers should be thinking about these conversations when they do arise?

Keshia Hamoud: 13:21

I think that a catapult is a good analogy of the impact of to COVID-19. The pandemic has put the realities of how easily, you know, life can be imbalanced in the front and center. And my perspective is that employers make these conversations front and center and as frequent as possible. So mental health has been a taboo subject for too long. So, you know, as employers, we need to push the topic until mental health awareness is as normal as prenatal care or preventive care for like hypertension. So just putting those conversations front and center is important.

Amanda Petersen: 13:57

Yeah. Keshia, I could not agree with you more, right. I think the most important thing about mental health is being proactive about it. So, you know if the employer has an employee assistance program, like make sure that's shared across the entire employee population and not only shared once, but continue to share that resource with your employees. So they, um, they know it's there, they're comfortable with it they can use it, they know the value and like the benefits of that type of program. I really think that's important. And anytime you can do something to combat that in the front end, I think it's going to provide major dividends in terms of your employees overall health and likely retention to the company. Right?

Mindy Jarecki: 14:36

Yeah. I agree. Also, I think that many employers have been talking more about this. I know we have at Lincoln, we've been having a lot of discussions with our employees about mental health and we're encouraging them to take time. I think a lot of people have since they've been working from home that they can't really take time. Where are you going to go? What are you going to do if you really need it? So we need to continue to encourage, if you feel like you need to be on a leave for mental health, that it's okay to take it. This is something that is going to continue to be an issue. And we need to make sure that they're aware of all their resources and all their benefits that they have.

Chris Takesian: 15:12

100% And I think, you know, it all goes back to that communication aspect when you can have those open lines of communication and feel comfortable talking about it, whether, you know, you're, it's a, it's a maternity claim, which is a little bit more standard or now a mental health claim, which, you know, we mentioned was before kind of in that taboo category to open those lines of communication and be able to have those conversations is vitally important, especially as we continue to deal with the impacts of working from home and different onset mental health issues. But I guess this is switching gears a little bit, but what's the number one thing, you know, across your different functions that people come to you to ask about, you know, if we're talking about disability insurance or disability claim, is there one thing that stands out to you in your different roles?

Amanda Petersen: 15:56

I'd say on my team, right? The most common question my claims team hears is, you know, how much am I going to get paid? Or when will I receive my check, right? And that's highly expected because in our space, the employee is unable to work and they have to think about supporting themselves and potentially others during this period away. So it's our job to be consultative on the disability benefit and what the employee will receive when, how much and all of those details surrounding it.

Mindy Jarecki: 16:22

I think the most common question I get in HR is about job protection. You know, this isn't going to affect my job, my performance, you know, my manager, isn't going to think any differently about me because I took a leave. So we're encouraging them that no, take the time that you need, use your benefit that's why it's there, and that it doesn't have any impact on their job when they return.

Keshia Hamoud: 16:45

And I totally agree with both of you in my world, both of those questions are about 50 50, you know, what am I going to be paid while I'm on hourly, paid how my benefits going to be paid while I'm on leave. But then also what happens to my job if I'm not approved for a paid leave, you know, I'm not on one of these approved leaves. So an employer, having these state and federal leaves, in additional to additional paid leaves an employer, having an additional caveat of absence that does not fall into one of those other categories. So what happens to my job is really important is an important question that a lot of employees ask and very common in addition to how will I be paid?

Chris Takesian: 17:24

Yeah. And the one common theme that's jumping out to me across all those answers is, is really that security aspect, right? Like that it's feeling safe, secure. That's really what disability insurance is doing. Not only is it protecting you so you can take the time you need, it's projecting your paycheck. Um, so it really goes back again to that importance. When we're talking about the importance of disability insurance it's that security that it provides you that peace of mind. Another question, are there areas you find that employees commonly get confused with their disability b enefit? Are there certain areas of it?

Keshia Hamoud: 17:55

I find that employees get confused about coordination of benefits. You know, why do I have to take FMLA with my paid short-term disability? Why do I have to use my PTO, you know, before my short-term disability starts? So as an employer has varying benefits, the coordination of how all of those benefits play out is really important. So in my world, you know, we were previously called leave coordinators. And so that coordination of those benefits is always important to our employees, you know, as to how it all ties together.

Amanda Petersen: 18:27

I could not agree more right. When you get into the claim space, um, there's, there might be different items that need to be returned too, right, because FMLA might need just a provider certification. Whereas short-term disability, you have to meet that definition of disability and more detailed information needs to be returned such as medical records. And so, you know, employees can get a little bit confused sometimes about why do I have to send you this certification? And then why do I have to send you medical records from my doctor? I told you on the phone. Um, so it's really just sitting and having that detailed conversation with the employee about different leaves that might apply to their claim and what is needed to be returned.

Mindy Jarecki: 19:08

Yeah, I think that's the biggest questions we get where they're confused is how it's paid. You know, the short-term disability is not the same as FMLA. They can have different timeframes sometimes for how long an employee can be out on one or the other and that's where the big confusion usually is how it's being paid and what they need to do to be approved for either of those leaves.

Chris Takesian: 19:31

It's a good testament to rely on your experts, right? There are people here that know the answers to these questions, you're not in it alone. You can reach out and get the help you need answering the questions. And that's why, you know, you're in the position you're in. So it's really a testament to having a strong team. So if you could provide one piece of feedback to employers about an employee dealing with a disability, what do you think that would be?

Amanda Petersen: 19:57

Yeah, so, I mean, if you really dig into it, I think most employees that file a disability claim are looking to get back to work as quickly as possible. So for me, I view Lincoln as an extension of our client's human resources team, right? And we're looking to closely partner with them on ensuring that this happens and that the claim runs smoothly. So if they're able to support an employee returning to work in any capacity, whether that be allowing them to return to work part-time or under their physician's restrictions and limitations, we've generally seen success in this type of tiered return to full-time work approach. And we've also had several tools that we can utilize to partner with the employer through that process, if they have any questions, you know, like our clinical and our vocational teams.

Keshia Hamoud: 20:39

And the one piece of feedback that I would give to employers on an employee, dealing with a disability is to remember that that individual is still a part of their team employers staying within their own company guidelines. They may want to think about following up with the employee and checking on how they're doing and just keeping in mind, you know, pieces of the conversations that they can't touch on, but within their guidelines of their company, you know, a call or even a car, it goes a long way towards reminding the employee that they're important and that their wellbeing matters.

Mindy Jarecki: 21:09

I think it's important for employers to be patient and understanding with employees that are out on a leave. I know it can be frustrating to know that an employee isn't going to be there to get the work done that needs to be done. But I think even in this last year with the pandemic, I think a lot more employers are probably more understanding now with employees that go out on a leave because it really brought to light that somebody can need to leave anytime for anything. Um, and I think we just need to be as employers, as HR speaking on that employer's behalf, we need to be more patient understanding with employees because like Amanda said, most of them are trying to get back to work as fast as they can. They don't want to be at home any longer than they have to be not working. So we just need to do our best to try to get them back into the workforce as quickly as possible that they can and be supportive of that process.

Chris Takesian: 22:01

Yeah. And I appreciate everything everybody said, and I would add to that too, that dealing with COVID-19, the pandemic has taught us so much, employers have been able to learn so much and kind of open up new avenues to an employee wellbeing and talking about that. And so it's, it's just, it's building off of that, right? It's like not forgetting all those lessons that we learned over the past year. It's using those to the advantage to make that stronger team, to, to keep that employee engaged. And it's keeping those lines of communication open. So yeah, really, really appreciate those answers. And as we close out here, are there any kind of closing thoughts that you want to leave our audience with?

Amanda Petersen: 22:39

Yeah. I'd say that disability insurance, it's a wonderful asset to have for both employees and employers. Our role within Lincoln has such a great partnership with both of those parties during this time of need. And really we're building a strong relationship and connectivity between us. So for me, it's a really rewarding space to be in, and I'm thankful for it every time that I come into work.

Keshia Hamoud: 22:59

And I'd just like to say, thank you for the opportunity to be part of today's conversation. And disability insurance has been a daily topic of discussion for more than half of my life. You know, I've been with the company over 23 years. I'm also very thankful to work for a company that offers disability insurance benefits, and that I was able to use when I was growing my family. You know, I have two children and pandemic or not disability insurance benefits are critical to a family's financial security.

Mindy Jarecki: 23:26

And I, again, thank you for having all of us on this podcast, because it is a very important tool for an employer to have and a benefit for employees. I couldn't do my job if we didn't have insurance for our employees and allow them to be able to take the time off. So it definitely provides great access for our employees to be able to go do what they need and take care of their disability. And we see it as a very valued resource.

Chris Takesian: 23:53

Agreed. And I, I need to echo the thank you. I think that this was a really important episode, especially again with it being disability, insurance awareness month a really poignant topic. So again, thank you all for joining me today. I know as you went over the questions, I'm like, Oh, they must be very busy because they seem to have all the answers to all these questions and they're, you know, they're doing a great job. So I appreciate you taking a little bit of time to talk with me today. Um, about a really important topic. To everyone listening. Thank you for joining us. We will continue to cover topics that help employers and their employees through this new environment. So be sure to subscribe to Lincoln Absence Advisor on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Disclosures: 24:36

The information contained in this podcast is for general use and is not a substitute for the advice of an attorney or your human resource professional. Lincoln Financial Group is the marketing name for Lincoln National Corporation and its affiliates. Affiliates are separately responsible for their own financial and contractual obligations.