Welcome to Dimensions Incorporated
FAQ -- Group Disability
What is the elimination period?
The elimination period is the amount of time an employee must be disabled before benefits are payable under the disability plan. Carriers offer various elimination periods for short and long-term disability plans. For more information, contact us.
What is the benefit period?
The benefit period is the longest period a disabled employee is eligible to receive benefits for one continuous disability under the insurance plan. Carriers offer various benefit periods for short and long-term disability plans. For more information, contact us.
How many employees must participate in the group disability plan?
If the employer offers a contributory plan, based upon the employer sharing in the cost of the premium, the minimum employee participation is 75%.If the employer offers a non-contributory plan, based upon the employer covering the full cost of the premium, the carriers require 100% participation.
What factors do the carriers use to calculate insurance premiums?
The carriers may use demographic information (location of the group), age of employees, gender and claims experience. For more information, contact us.
What are the minimum number of hours an employee must work to be eligible for disability insurance benefits?
An employer may use the 30 hour standard for determining eligibility for a disability benefit plan; however, other hourly standards may be applied with carrier approval. For more information, contact us.
Are employers required to offer disability insurance benefits to all of their employees?
No. However, the factors determining which employees will be offered coverage must be based on classes of employees (i.e., management, hourly, salary, length of service, etc).
Following are general definitions common to many Short and Long-Term Disability contracts:
- Total Disability: you are disabled, as the result of a physical disease or injury, and are unable to perform the important duties of your occupation. The definition of disability also requires that you are not engaged in any other gainful occupation and are under the care of a physician. For more information, contact us.
- Own Occupation Definition: you are unable to perform the material duties of your own occupation for a specified period of time. You may be required to have a loss of 20% of your predisability earnings to be considered disabled. For more information, contact us.
- Residual Disability: Residual Disability requires the you are unable to perform one or more of the important duties of your occupation, OR are unable to perform the important duties of your occupation for more than 80% of the time normally required to perform them. You must incur a loss of earnings while you are engaged in your occupation or another occupation. You must also be under the care of a physician. For more information, contact us.
- Social Security Integration: if you are entitled to benefits under Social Security, the benefits under the group plan will be offset by Social Security benefits. The Social Security definition can include benefits payable to you (primary) and/or benefits payable to other family members (e.g., full or family). For more information, contact us.
Note: These policies provide disability income insurance only. They do NOT provide basic hospital, basic medical or major medical insurance as defined by the New York State Insurance Department. The expected benefit ratio for these policies is at least 68%, depending on the policy. This ratio is the portion of future premiums, which MetLife expects to return as benefits, when averaged over all people with the applicable policy.