Inconsistent administration of Short Term disability plan

[Guest PGlen]

Are employers bound by law to be consistent in their adminstration of STD benefits from employee to employee?

Starting as recently as December 2001, several employees going out on STD were told they were not required to exhaust their sick day accruals before their STD benefits kicked in. In addition, they were allowed to offset their STD benefit with accrued sick time so they were reimbursed at 100% salary for the STD duration.

I met with my HR rep last week and was told that that is not how the policy was administered, that those other employees must be "confused" as to how their benefits were administered, and that I will need to exhaust my sick days before my STD benefits kicks in. She confirmed (when I asked) that there had been no change in the STD benefit policy.

I have ample evidence (in the form of paycheck stubs that clearly delineate how many sick days they had accrued before their STD leave, how many sick day hours were included in each paycheck they received during their STD leave, etc) from those employees who were allowed to offset their salaries.

Any info would be greatly appreciated !

[Mary C]

If your STD plan is an ERISA qualified plan and not just a payroll practice, the administration must be consistent. There can be different administration for different classes of employees (exempt vs. non-exempt for example).

Also, although an employer may try to be consistent and is consistent most of the time, please remember, we're only human too and could make mistakes on how one person's leave was administered at some point in the past.