short term - how avg. weekly wage is calculated

[Lexicon18]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NY

I have been on STD since 2/19/13. I am pregnant and herniated 2 discs in my lower back. I work as a bank teller so the on my feet all the time was impossible and dr. took me out until after I deliver. Disability will only approve my disability for a month at a time so the dates are not lining up with my payroll. My last two checks have been roughly 25% of my pre-disability pay. I called to inquire as to what was going on because I thought it was just a date issue and to ask if an adjustment would be made. I was told that because disability pays 50% of my last 8 weeks, my checks went down because those 8 weeks now include all the weeks I have been on disability and receiving 50% of my pay, so now I am down to roughly 25% of my pre-disability paycheck. Is this right? I thought the average was based on the 8 weeks prior to my disability not including it...I will be on disability through September so it will keep going down and down if the way they are calculating it is correct.

 

[swalsh411]

Contact your HR department. Somebody doesn't know what they are doing. Nothing that happened after the effective date of your claim should count.

 

[cbg]

And the correct answer is:

Your STD benefits are calculated the way the plan document says they are calculated. If the plan document says that all benefits are frozen at the average of eight weeks before you first go out, then that is how they are calculated. However, if the plan document says that they are calculated another way, then the plan document goes.

 

[swalsh411]

I have never once seen a plan document which counts anything "earned" after the effective date of the claim.

 

[cbg]

And if the poster's specific plan reads that way, then your answer is also correct.

That does not change the fact that how STD benefits are calculated is not determined by law, but by how the plan document says they are calculated. To assume that all plans are calculated exactly the same way and that there is NO possible way that hers might be calculated any way but that, is to paint with far too broad a stroke.

 

[swalsh411]

Yes, but one who has experience in the matter (and I know you do) should know it's highly unlikely.