Snapshot: U.S. Disability Benefits

Below are summary results from a recent Culpepper Benefits Survey on short and long-term disability benefits for U.S. employees in technology and life sciences companies.

• Short-term and long-term disability benefits are offered to virtually all full-time employees, sometimes to part-time, and occasionally to outside, non-employee board directors.

• The most common date of eligibility for both short-term and long-term disability benefits is immediately upon hire.

• Eighty percent of companies pay all of the premiums for short-term and long-term disability benefits.

• The most common waiting period for benefits to begin is seven days for short-term disability and 90 days for long-term disability.

• Most companies have no gap between paid time-off and short-term disability (83 percent), or between short-term and long-term disability (85 percent).

• The most common duration of short-term disability benefits is 180 days, while the most common duration of long-term benefits is until normal retirement age.

• The percentage of an employee’s salary paid out in benefits varies by duration for short-term disability, while the percentage for long-term disability is usually a constant 60 percent.

Culpepper and Associates conducts worldwide salary surveys and provides benchmark data for compensation and employee benefit programs.

Reposted with permission

Source: Culpepper Benefits Survey, April 2010, www.culpepper.com

Related Articles:

Keeping Disability Payments in Check, HR Magazine, May 2010

A Coordinated Approach to Disability Management, SHRM Online Benefits Discipline, April 2010