Disability Insurance FAQs

Disability insurance replaces a portion of your income in the case of illness or injury. NAU offers employees both Short Term Disability and Long-Term Disability.

Both replace a portion of your pay in the case of illness or injury.

• Short Term Disability is optional. It directly pays you a portion of your income for up to 6 months (including any waiting period). Work related illness or injury is not covered.
• Long Term Disability is part of your Primary Retirement benefit. It directly pays you a portion of your income after a six-month waiting period.

The benefits depend on the plan you select. Visit the Disability Insurance webpage for more information.

Short-term Disability insurance replaces a portion of your pay first 6 months of a non-work-related illness or injury. NAU offers two plans to choose from. You should enroll if you need to protect your income if you had a non-work-related illness injury lasting less than 6 months.

There are several reasons.

• First, The Unum plan replaces 70% of your weekly pay, and MetLife replaces 66.66%.
• MetLife only has one option with a maximum weekly benefit of $897.43 but Unum has three options with a maximum weekly benefit of $2,000.
• With MetLife you must first use all of your accrued sick and vacation before the benefit begins. With Unum you can use sick and vacation and receive a benefit.

It will depend on the short-term disability plan you are enrolled in.

• NAU – Unum: Yes, you can use sick time and also received your benefit from Unum.
• State of AZ – Met Life: Before your benefit begins, you need to use any accrued paid time off such as sick vacation or compensatory time.

1. Yes, there is a 30-day waiting period for both plans, but the waiting period is waived for different reasons.

• NAU – Unum: There is a 30-day waiting period before the benefit begins, unless you are admitted to the hospital for 24 or more hours have had outpatient surgery or pregnancy.
• State of AZ – Met Life: There is a 30-day waiting period before the benefit begins, the waiting period is waived if your absence is due to an injury.

You can enroll during open enrollment, since you did not enroll when you were initially eligible there are benefit restrictions depending on the plan that you elect.

• NAU – Unum: You will be subject to a pre-existing condition for any condition except for maternity care and treatment, or complications of pregnancy, unless the complication began prior to the effective date of your coverage. Unum makes all pre-existing condition determinations. For more information on Unum’s pre-existing condition review the Unum Policy.
• State of AZ – Met Life: You waiting period will be extended from 30 days to 60 days. For more information on Met Life’s extended waiting period Review the Met Life Policy.

In most cases you will be on an approved leave of absence when you need submit a short-term disability claim. You will receive information on submitting a claim when you request and leave of absence. Leaves of absence are required for absences lasting 5 days or more. If you are enrolled in Unum and do not qualify for a leave of absence but do qualify for short term disability benefits you should contact the Benefits Team at nauhrbenefits@nau.edu to request a claim form. Example: You are having out patient surgery but will be absence for 5 days or less.

Visit the Leave of Absence webpage for information on leaves of absence.

Long-Term Disability replaces a portion of your income (66 2/3) if you have an illness or injury after a six-months. Your coverage is based on your Primary Retirement enrollment.

Visit the Disability Insurance webpage for more information.

You should submit your application once you have been away from work for 3-4 months and anticipate not returning to work after being absence for 6 months. You should discuss the application process with your leave advisor.

Long Term Disability can take 6-8 weeks to process.

No, you can’t continue your short-term disability or long-term disability insurance if you leave the university.

For more information one what will happen to your benefits if you leave the university visit the Information for Employees Exiting webpage.