Call any of the contacts listed on the website. Lay out several scenarios and get answers. Each case is different here at the “most regional west coast regional airline company”.......

 

Having never in 20 years used any of it and having never bothered to track the changes, my info likely is dated....Best if everyone calls and gets absolute clarity to include the name, position, job title, date, time of call and the persons supervisors name. “Elastic Airways” is famous for bait-and-switch not just with their passengers but mostly with their employees......

 

This is from the Alaska Airlines Employee Benefit Handbook For Pilots (yes it’s really called that

When do benefits begin?
Basic and optional short-term disability benefits begin on the first day of disability if the disability is due to a non- occupational accident and the fourth day when the disability is due to an illness.

Long-term disability benefits can begin after you have been continuously disabled as defined in the Long-Term Disability Plan for six months. You are not required to exhaust sick leave and vacation during the six-month waiting period. If you are receiving paid time off for more than six months after your date of disability, then long-term disability benefits will not begin until after your paid time off is discontinued.

———————-

It also said that Short Term disability is payable for 26 weeks which is about 6 months, so it seems to me that STD will get you to LTD no problem. No clue where the 230 hours of sick time comes from... I imagine some sick time would be beneficial since you have to get diagnose, do tests, etc

EDIT: Looks like for STD you submit the request and they have 7-10 days to respond but can get an extension for an additional 7-10 days if they need more time to investigate. If denied for STD you can appeal and they have 45 days to reply by letter that they have received the claim, however they can extend that by an additional 30 days to respond if workload permits. They then have 30 days to reevaluate the claim and can extend by 30 days if they need....

I think I see why you would want the ~230 hours sick time

 

I seem to recall them saying you only needed about 30+ hrs to carry you through to the start of STD. Dianne is a wizard at working with us and figuring out the best and most financially responsible way to reach STD and then LTD. they’ll use a combo or vacay time, remaining sick time, and if necessary, reduce pay to 30 something hrs to cover your monthly pay and remain on payroll. The additional 20% at $13 a month ensures you get a higher percentage of your guarantee if you go out on STD. She helped me out a couple of years ago with exactly this scenario. So using SLMU to ensure you have enough SL to carry you through is a very good reason to use it and another reason to strike it from the list of negatively perceived pick ups.

P.S. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Be safe out there

 

Happy Thanksgiving! I haven't seen anywhere in the disability section that says you must remain on payroll to receive the benefits. It even says in the LTD section there that you do not need to use vacation or sick time during the 6 month waiting period. I'm just assuming people would want to so that they have some income coming in during this process.

 

Excellent Sleuthing....

 

As has been already mentioned, the amount of sick leave needed to get to long-term disability is different for each pilot and is based on many variables. The following is just one example:

Assumptions
-12 year Captain payrate: $259/hr
-75 hours of monthly pay
-Excess disability insurance benefit (Additional 20%): $300 per week
-Maximum Washington State STD benefit (12 weeks): $1,500 per week
-Monthly income: (75*259) = $19,425
-40 days of vacation value cash out: 140 hours
-STD begins 30 days after injury

Month 1: $19,425 (75*259)

Vacation used: 75
Vacation remaining: 65
Sick Leave used: 0

Month 2: $19,425

STD benefit: $6,800
Income shortage: $12,625 ($19,425 - $6,800) or 49 hours of vacation
Vacation used: 49 hours
Vacation remaining: 16
Sick Leave used: 0

Month 3: $19,425

STD benefit: $6,800
Vacation Used: 16
Vacation Value: $4,144
Income shortage: $8,481 ($19,425 - $6,800 -$4,144)
Sick leave used: 33

Month 4: $19,425

STD benefit: $6,800
Sick leave used: 49
Sick leave value: $12,625

Month 5 & 6: $38,850

STD benefit: 0
Sick leave used: 150


Total sick leave needed to last 6 months: 232 hours.

Obviously this is a senior Captain at top of scale with 140 hours of vacation pay, excess STD insurance who desires 75 hours of pay. Those with less accrued vacation or those who wish to be payed up to 85 hours of monthly pay will need more sick leave to make up difference.

YMMV

 

Look into it further. Only a company like Alaska would ask their employees to think they would need to fly extra to "credit" their sick time bank after they call in sick to be eligible for STD and LTD they already have paid for

 

Lets get this thread back on tract to SWA buying Alaska!

 

^^^^^^^^^^