MelT

Replied Yum, sorry for the delay.

The Walrus

Semi related topic
What is the current LTD cap per month ?

Slatsextend

SSDI is a scam on the taxpayer, you pay into the system for years and then when it comes time to get it, some Judge gets to decide if you are qualified to get it, terrible deal for taxpayers .................. My brother waited 2 years to get his SSDI and lucky for him a Judge did approve his application, but as stated in other post sometimes gets denied.
I hope you are fortunate and can get your piece of the pie, you paid into it for years .....................

Huh really

Here is wrinkle upon that theme. Assume you are on LTD, and eventually (after exhausting all legal means of appeal), qualify for SSDI. The "Company" or Aetna/The Hartford, as you will, will reduce your LTD payment $0.70 on the dollar. For example, lets say your SSDI is $100/mo. Your LTD will go down $70/mo. And, because of what you ultimately earn, your SSDI is taxed, but only the first 85%. Now, lets assume that your combined income rate (state and federal) is about 25%. That means you owe about $21.25 in income tax on that $100. So, you now net, $8.75 overall/mo.

Now, the bigger wrinkle. Let's say you are close to 62 years of age and you were completely denied SSDI. So, you decide to "retire" early with the SSA. That means you take a lowered SSA retirement benefit but you start before your full retirement age. Well, the company will treat that income just like SSDI. 70 cents on the dollar yada yada yada. Yes, you have payed SSA taxes all your working life, but, SSA retirement benefits will be treated just like SSDI benefits if you are on LTD. Reference: PBB

FlybyKnite

I was out for almost five years on Worker Comp, LTD, and SSDI. Most of the info present here is accurate, however your individual mileage may vary—as the devil is in the details. My experience with SSDI was relatively painless. ALLSUP did their job and I was awarded SSDI on the first attempt. FedEx does reduce your LTD payments but you get your full SSDI benefit. So you do come out a bit ahead overall. The kick in the teeth is the taxes; especially if you were awarded lump sum benefits (retro of up to 1 year is allowed). You have to pay back LTD $$ to FedEx and pay income tax on the entire amount.

If you do get SSDI you need to investigate the Ticket to [return to] Work program. It is a structured program that allows you to go back to work and keep your SSDI and Medicare benefits (Medicare is automatic after 2 years on SSDI). I highly recommend enrolling in this program when you are ready to go back to [any kind of] work as it is financially advantageous.

I sent the union benefits ladies a document detailing my journey including relevant [older] contract references. I also sent them a Sick Bank calculator spreadsheet I created to help with managing all the various banks for paychecks. But alas, to my knowledge, none of this information has been given to anyone who is out on worker comp or extended sick leave.

My story ended with a return to work via basic indoc and a full ITU schedule. I retired last year so not hanging out here much anymore.

I would be happy to share the above documents with anyone who is in need, just PM me.

busdriver12

Some really good information here.

That's very kind of you to offer to share your detailed information with people, FlybyKnite. Unfortunate that the union isn't allowing this to be used, with your permission. It's a maze of choices, with some potential pitfalls. It's too bad this has to be so complicated.

BrownGirls YUM

Thanks for the great info!

Were the taxes you paid on the original payments from FedEx credited to the tax bill for the lump sum from SSDI?

Did the automatic medicare after two years cause any problems?

If you also had FDX MEC supplemental LTD insurance, did the benefit salary starting point for that policy and the FDX Corporate policy agree? I'm working on resolving that ambiguity right now. The Hartford folks don't yet have an explanation, but are currently having a look at that.

I would greaty appreciate a copy of what you sent to the Alpa staff and anything else you might believe would be helpful.

Again, thanks for your reply.

Huh really

I will know shortly about the tax issue. As for the dates, depending on circumstance, they will vary. For example, if you have the original (FPA) LTD insurance, the countdown starts from the day you call in sick (12 or 24 months). For the company, it depends on what you do manipulating your sick hours, long term sick hours, vacation hours and what you decide to get paid a month. When all is exhausted, then you go on LTD. Now, the calculation of benefit will be different between the two if the dates are different depending on the rolling 12 month average during the look back period. These may or may not align with the SSA date for LTD. In my case, FPA date, about 9 months later FDX date, then 2 1/2 years from the FPA date for the SSDI date.

FlybyKnite

Were the taxes you paid on the original payments from FedEx credited to the tax bill for the lump sum from SSDI?
No credits. the SSDI comes from the Social Security Admin and so is a separate tax bill that you settle up on the whole mess when your file your federal taxes. The bigger the lump sum, the bigger the headache.

Did the automatic medicare after two years cause any problems?
This was a bite in the @ss. If you keep Medicare Part B, FedEx counts Medicare as your primary medical insurance AND Anthem no longer pays anything, i.e. you're stuck holding the bag for the other 20% of Medicare. Lucky for me that I have Tricare. You can opt to keep the Part A (hospitalization w/no premium) and opt out of Part B until you turn 65.
The Union should fix this in the next contract so that FedEx pays the remaining 20% on medical bills.

If you also had FDX MEC supplemental LTD insurance, did the benefit salary starting point for that policy and the FDX Corporate policy agree? I'm working on resolving that ambiguity right now. The Hartford folks don't yet have an explanation, but are currently having a look at that.
In my case, I was able to stretch my sick leave to 12 months (thanks to work comp) and so my dates were about the same. It mainly had to do with timely notifications. I started out under Aetna then transitioned to Hartford. I had some problems with the Hartford folks as they just started administering the MEC LTD stuff and they didn't really understand the nature of the policy. The union benefits ladies are the Go To folks to interface with them and fix things.

I would greatly appreciate a copy of what you sent to the Alpa staff and anything else you might believe would be helpful.
Thanks, I decided to invent something that was needed and didn't exist, I agree-- too bad it's not publicized. Send me a PM with an email address, since APC doesn't allow attachments to PMs.

FlybyKnite

I forgot to state an obvious necessity if you find yourself headed toward LTD. It is extremely important that you READ EVERY WORD regarding LTD in the Contract, the Pilot Benefit Book and the MEC LTD policy. There are deadlines to be met and notifications to be made. If you don't read this stuff, you will get screwed out of opportunities and dollars. If I hadn't read the MEC LTD policy, I wouldn't have known that Hartford was incorrectly administering the terms of the LTD policy just to cheat me out of my last policy payment.