Holidays & Leave

Short-term Disability

Short-term Disability is an insurance benefit and does not provide job protection. Please review the family and medical leave (FML) page for more information on job protected leave. The University's Short-term Disability insurance benefit plan helps to replace income lost due to a qualifying disability for up to 11 weeks out of a 13 week period. 

Review our "Which leave is right for me?" webpage to get a better understanding of short-term disability and the intersection of other leaves.

Which leave is right for me?

Telephone: 866-779-1054 | Fax: 800-447-2498
Monday-Friday | 4:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Alaskan

What is short-term disability?
Short-term disability provides salary continuation to employees who are unable to work due to a disability.

What is a disability?
You are disabled when Unum determines that

  • you are limited from performing the material and substantial duties of your regular occupation due to your sickness or injury
  • you have a 20% or more loss in your weekly earnings due to the same sickness or injury
  • you must be under the regular care of a physician in order to be considered disabled

Elimination period (14 days)
Short-term Disability is for short-term disabilities that will keep you from working and earning an income for more than 14 calendar days. This 14-day period is the elimination period. You must be continuously disabled through your elimination period and use your own sick leave during this time. If you do not have sick leave remaining,  please continue to claim the sick leave earnings code (550) and this will automatically cascade through your annual leave and/or Faculty Time Off, Personal Holiday, and leave without pay. 

Benefit paid to you
After the 14-day period has expired and you have been approved for Short-term Disability,  the benefit provides you with income protection up to 60% of your salary to a maximum of $800 per week for up to 11 weeks. 

All benefit-eligible employees
All benefit-eligible employees working at least 20 hours per week are eligible.

Start of coverage
Coverage will begin on the first day of the month following an employee's first 30 days of work.

Automatic enrollment
Eligible employees are automatically enrolled for short-term disability. This is a fixed plan offered and no changes to the plan can be made.

Experiencing an event
If you experience a Short-term Disability event, please contact Unum at 866-779-1054. 

Employer paid benefit
There is no bi-weekly premium. This is an employer paid benefit.

Complete your family and medical leave request with UA Benefits & Leaves
Apply for job-protected leaves by logging into and requesting a review of your job-protected entitlements. You can also reach out to the benefits team at ua-benefits@alaska.edu or (907) 450-8242.

Call Unum
To initiate Short-term Disability, please contact Unum.

Telephone: 866-779-1054 | Fax: 800-447-2498
Monday-Friday | 4:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Alaskan

Benefits will run concurrently
If you are applying for short-term disability, you must apply for any job protected leaves that are available to you, as well. You can do this by logging into and submitting your leave request. You can also reach out to the Benefits & Leaves team at ua-hr-leaves@alaska.edu or (907) 450-8242. 

60% of pay up to $800 per week
Short-term disability allows employees to receive 60% of their pay up to a maximum of $800 per week. 

2 week elimination period
Payments begin after a 2-week elimination period where the employee would not receive short-term disability benefits but may use their sick leave during this time in order to continue to receive pay.

Employee's choice - 100% pay or 60% pay
Employees can choose to supplement their short-term disability with their own sick leave to receive 100% pay (pending they have sick leave available to "top off" their short-term disability payments).  They can also choose to not supplement with sick leave and just receive 60% of their pay up to $800 maximum per week. 

 

PERS/TRS retirement plans
Employees who are on short-term disability will not receive service credit or retirement earnings while they are out on short-term disability. Please contact the at 1-800-821-2251 to discuss these effects as they relate to your particular state retirement plan.

Optional Retirement Plan (ORP)
Employees who are on short-term disability will not receive retirement earnings to the ORP while they are out on short-term disability. 

All other benefits (medical, dental, vision, etc)
All other benefits will continue as normal during short-term disability. If you are not receiving enough pay to cover your full benefits you may generate arrears which will be paid back on our arrears schedule. 

Long-term disability
If you have exhausted your short-term disability, there is an opportunity to review your case for long-term disability (LTD). This application and transition be discussed with Unum. For more information on LTD, please review our LTD webpage.

Short-term disability available for 4+ weeks depending on situation
As long as you are otherwise eligible, new mothers who experience either complicated or uncomplicated births are considered disabled under the UA short-term disability policy for the 6 weeks immediately after birth. This means that, after a two (2) week elimination period has passed, new mothers may receive short-term disability payments for four (4) weeks without experiencing any non-routine postpartum medical issues. 

Mothers who experience complications associated with birth or in the postpartum period (e.g., medical interventions, surgery, health conditions associated with birth) may be eligible to receive short-term disability payments for a longer period than those experiencing uncomplicated births. 

For further information or to initiate a claim, please contact Unum at 866-779-1054.