Originally Posted by
marcal
Hi,
Just a question regarding disability insurance at DAL. I've done some searching and I've sort of pieced this together. If you for example, have a condition that prevents you from flying again, you get 50% of your salary from DAL indefinitely? And then you can join the DPMA and get it 'topped up' to you last current salary? How long does it last, etc. I just want to know how the coverage works if god forbid you suffer a huge med issue and can't fly.
Thx.
You're right about LTD, with a few exceptions such as mental illness, substance abuse, etc. DPMA will only "top you off" for the first year, then you only get the 50% until you reach retirement age. There are also some provisions that will offset LTD if you make over a certain ($40,000/year is coming to mind, but don't quote me) amount while collecting disability. This is designed to get you back on your feet, but not pay you if you are still able to work at some other job.
DPMA is good for 2 years of benefits over the span of your career but you can only use a max of 1 year at a time, per illness. You must return to work for a specified time (I think a year, again don't quote me) to go back out with the same illness, or return to work and then go out with a different illness, which requires no waiting time. Theoretically you could go out for a year on DPMA, then come back for one day and go back out for another year of DPMA as long as the new illness was something different from the first.
There are more specifics that you can find at the DPMA site if you need more info.