I am a senior FT unionized professor. I have been on STD for less than my 130 elimination period and I want to return to work In January. The HR Manager of Benefits and RTW, said I should come back with a STD RTW accommodation of part-time teaching load in the winter and continue to use my amply funded sick day bank to preserve my salary for the gap between FT and PT pay.
A month later she has a meeting with my union rep and myself to inform us that an unidentified senior manager has reneged on that offer and said that she the HR specialist had it all wrong for over decade and that all STD RTW accommodations must be administered through Sun Life LTD.
That is to get the accommodation offered in Oct. I would have to apply for LTD and if and only if I am approved …then I could to apply (probably coincidental) for the LTD RTW benefit which would use my sick day bank. When I asked for written confirmation of the meeting the HR manager said none would be forth coming. It seems absurd and appears to be a violation of the OHRC and as such the CA. I was always under the impression you could not apply for LTD if the employee wants to and can work part-time, total disability would not be met.
As a union employee I am bound to the grievance process of the CA but I believe I can file a complaint with OHRT if I don’t file a grievance first. My union is overwhelmed in these days and the slow roll of the process means arbitration might be moved years down the road.
My option is to come back to work fulltime with an increased workload higher I wonder if that is because senior managers that may also be trying to push me into retirement.
I’m thinking that I need independent legal advice to virtually sit in on meetings with my union and HR managers …to be sure that my employer doesn’t get my union rep onto the typical path of adjudication that may not reach a conclusion before I retire in under 5 years, let alone solve my workload concerns by next month …Thoughts?
In Ontario the law clearly states employers must accomadate an illness/disability as long as it does not cause the employer undue hardship. If you are a prof at large enough we’ll funded school, the plan for you to come back part time and top up your salary with vac/sick time seems reasonable and I doubt they could prove undue hardship. The fact that HR originally recommended that means it wouldn’t cause undue hardship is that how they operated for 10 years. Not sure how your union agreement interacts with the provincial laws.
Applying for LTD is probably a good idea, but the above point still holds regardless of whether or not you are approved for LTD.
Yes I would get legal representation to sit in. It’ll likely not be cheap, but a good lawyer is worth their weight in gold.
Hi, there is another dynamic that you need to be aware of. I was advised by my previous employer that it’s usually a mistake to try to continue working part time instead of going off on disability. That’s because if I ended up needing to go on full disability (which is usually what they’d seen happen) it would reduce my insured income to the amount that I was making part time instead of having my full time salary insured. Going off work well and truly sucks but you need to start thinking in mercenary terms about how you can preserve your financial security while disabled. It also helps your credibility when you apply when it’s your employer who told you that you needed to go off on disability so be sure to mention that in your LTD application.
Caro brings up a VERY good point. If you do go back part-time (not being on LTD) make sure your are getting a full salary (topped up with vacation time and it sick days). That way if later you do have to go on LTD then the monthly LTD benefit is calculated based on your full salary not just a part-time salary.
By the way you should also check the definition of disability in your plan. Mine kicks in after a 20% reduction in earnings and continues until I can make a certain percentage of my pre-disability income. Also ‘any occupation’ means something like any occupation for which you are suited due to training, ability and work history, and does not mean literally any occupation.
I think it is correct for a person to apply for LTD in a situation like this. We often recommend people apply for LTD even if the plan is to return to work part-time. Unless, you know you can work full time, then you should be applying for LTD. Depending on the wording of your policy, LTD does provide “top up” payment to people returning to work less than full time.
David Brannen
Disability Lawyer with Resolute Legal
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