Hey all new hire in the academy here. I’ve heard Disability insurance (ie insurance in case of losing medical) being mentioned here, was just wondering if that was something I would be able to sign up for within my first 60 days of employment, or would that be something that’s offered later. I don’t believe they mentioned it in onboarding. Thanks.
Disability Insurance
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Peter Gibbons
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That's thru the union, so once you get to your facility, and I think there's an open enrollment period.
Thanks!
FightingIrish2012
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Read the fine print carefully, I bought that insurance for years until I really looked closely at what is classified as a pre-existing condition and what is not. Once you get a few years in if you accrue a lot of sick leave and don't waste it you probably don't need that insurance either, by the time it kicked in and started to truly pay off you would probably be medically retired or given a office job.
The large print giveth...and the small print taketh away. ?
Phillytroll69
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link? i heard it's pretty great for us, if you lose your medical you get paid and DON'T have to take an office job?
Disability policies are generally pretty restrictive on conditions they cover, plus don’t kick in paying for quite a while. Not unlike long term health care policies for older generation. -You weigh the risk, payments , and you roll da bones
The disability insurance from UNUM in conjunction with NATCA explicitly accounts for losing your ATC medical. It takes a while after you lose it for the insurance to kick in, but it will kick in.
The Fed Advantage disability insurance is cheaper and starts sooner after an injury, but it's defined based on whether you can do the job (or a similar job) physically. Just because the flight surgeon says you aren't allowed to work isn't the same as losing your eyesight and being unable to work, for example. I sent them an email asking if they would pay out solely on the basis of losing your medical and they gave a wishy-washy answer that didn't give me a lot of confidence.
Phillytroll69
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Oh but the union one is 6 months and x% loss your golden. (As golden as you could be losing job) I'm going to have to re read now to see if I've been wasting money.
32andBelow
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If you get hurt and miss work, it won’t hurt, to miss work.
Robert_Boucher
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Sometimes they pay you cash which is just as good as money.
Phillytroll69
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To straighten this out after some research it appears you get AT LEAST the difference between what you were making, and what you will now make.
If you can't work at all-it's a huge chunk of change
If you get admin I guess it makes up for nights and differentials?
Can someone get the unum person to post in this thread
If you can't work at all-it's a huge chunk of change
If you get admin I guess it makes up for nights and differentials?
Can someone get the unum person to post in this thread
Has anyone had any luck with getting short term disability? I've been with the agency for 2 years (at my facility for a year and another year of zoom/academy). I don't have disability insurance. My facrep has never mentioned the plan offered through natca. I'm now on my 4th week of being out sick. I can't work with the medications I'm on. I've already taken an advance on my sick leave. My ATM denied me doing admin work. Are there any options for getting disability at this point or is my only option LWOP if I don't want to continue taking advances on my sick leave?
FightingIrish2012
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I’m not really sure, but with the UNUM NATCA plan you need to be out at least 90 days before you collect, so unless you plan to be out long term you can take solace in not buying the NATCA which would not have helped anyway.
Phillytroll69
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this false, it's 60 days at x%, 90 days at the higher percentage
the bottom line is that if you ever lose your medical for a long period, this will make up the difference between the new admin/straight 80. That said, it isn't terribly useful unless you save up ~480 hours of leave. BUT at 17/month I found it appealing
Robert_Boucher
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I don't think the FAA offers short term or long term which is why it's offered via 3rd party. Even if you were to buy into know most will have a waiting period of some sort.
Did your ATM look at other facilities in the area to see if there are admin duties.
Did your ATM look at other facilities in the area to see if there are admin duties.
BigEggplant
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Any ATM that doesn’t have the ability to create admin duties for one of their employees is a piece of shit human.
ClearanceClarence
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Wonder if this is something that’s grieveable. Don’t think I’ve ever heard of admin duties being outright denied to someone who just lost their medical. We have people literally sitting around doing nothing on “admin duties” all the time.
Also, might worth looking into sick leave donations for a situation like this.
GulfBravoPapa
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It's definitely not grieveable. I've seen it denied before.
