STD & LTD

[Guest Barb5494@aol.com]

I have an employee who has 6 mths vaginal leave, applied for STD was denied - and appealed. The appeal took 4 mths, so she went on FMLA and NJFLA. Now that she has returned to work, she has received word that her maternity related carpel tunnel was approved for Short Term Dis. She now wants to go on Long Term Dis. How do I go about doing this??

[mroberts]

I think a good place to start would be to contact your disability carrier. Without knowing the plan specifics, there's not much we can really tell you. By the way, what exactly is a "vaginal" leave?

[KIP KRAUS]

I’d like to know how you have maternity related carpel tunnel? Is she trying to have her previous leave count toward her LTD waiting period? Sounds like someone is trying to scam the LTD carrier to me, but if the carrier is smart they will question the claim.

[Jbentz]

It does sound fishy, but I can tell you from having it, carpel tunnel during pregnancy is pretty common. I was pretty surprized by it, but my nurses and doctor told me it was a normal side effect, especally for those who spend a lot of time of computers. While it was pretty severe during my pregnancy, it cleared up about 1 year after I had my son.

I would leave it up to the carriers and their claim department to investigate the supporting documentation.