What to mention for Employment Status - "On Disability"?

General Discussion
1

Hi,

I wish to know how to state “employment status” while on disability especially for financial institutions asking for it when opening bank account or getting a new card etc.

After working for over 20+ years, I have been on LTD and CPPD for 7+ years, but was technically employed by the employer till recently. Employer was providing extended health and pension benefits and LTD insurer (through employment) was paying monthly LTD benefits. To accept settlement from the insurer, I had to resign from employment.

So, now I am unemployed and on CPPD. My question is what should I say for “Employment Status” question when opening a bank account or getting a new card etc (or) any other place they require this information legally.

Also, Now that I am not employed by my employer any more, Do I need to update “Employment Status” for all existing bank accounts with the financial institutions?

Should I mention Employment Status as,

  1. Not working ( or Unemployed). — Not sure if this would trigger any queries for existing assets that have been acquired over 20 years of work life before disability.

  2. On Disability ( or CPPD) - Not sure if this is a valid status wherever they ask for this information?

  3. Retired (or Voluntary retirement or Voluntary retirement for health reasons)

I wish to hear from forum members on how to deal with this question.

Thanks very much for all the help in advance.

Thanks.

2

As far as I know, there is no need to update your bank etc unless you are taking out a new loan or something like that. It seems like every form offers slightly different choices but the ones I seem to use most frequently are ‘other’ or ‘on leave’ or ‘medical leave’. Sometimes I manually write it in if all the options seem wrong.

3

Every now and then they ask me to update my personal information, things like employment, net worth, family income, total assets and so on. But I never asked them why they do that. Even being on disability I tell them that I am still employed by the same company.

As long as your assets came from legitimate sources and you filed your tax returns then there is no need to worry. The banks usually pay a lot of attention to cash transactions and suspicious wire transfers to avoid money laundering and things like that.

4

Thanks very much Caro and Elaine for your inputs.