Manulife paid Ltd for a year and then said neuropathy was caused by alcohol. So no more disability payments. The neuropathy is severe. Unable to walk at all without a walker with wheels. Unable to bathe myself. My dr said neuropathy will never improve and I will never work again. It’s too severe.Will Canadian disability application be denied ?
Do you mean CPP-D?
I don’t it cares why you’re disabled as long as you have worked.
Does you’re doctor also think the neuropathy was caused by alcohol?
You’re doctor matters more than Manulife.
Ty, I mean the CPP Disability. It’s actually my husband and he worked full time since age 18 until he went on LTD 18 months ago. He worked 35 years.
His Dr , after two years of trying to find why he had rapidly progressing neuropathy in all four limbs came to the conclusion that drinking hard liquor since he was a young adult, along with pre diabetes caused the neuropathy and because the nerve damage is so severe, even stopping drinking now will not reverse the damage.
Since Manulife said alcohol was a type of substance abuse , I wonder if the cpp disability will be possible or if they will say no because of drinking. Thanks for your reply.
Not sure what the answer is with regards to CPP is, BUT…
Does your LTD policy actually state illness caused by substance abuse (or something worded like that) disqualifies you from LTD benefits? If it doesn’t then your LTD insurer has broken the law (aka breach of contract) and you are owed past and future LTD payments if you have the support of your doctor.
It does specify that substance abuse is a disqualification.
I’m also wondering if he gets cpp disability and it goes retro for 11 months, will we have to repay manulife for the amount received from cpp retro. My husband got exactly 12 manulife payments. He also has some banked vacation time we are afraid to ask for in case manulife somehow would be entitled to it.
Hi Snowisland.
I recommend you get a free consultation from Resolute Legal and send them your plan/policy information. I don’t recommend you read and interpret it yourself. Is your husband actually an alcoholic? If so, he has an addiction that is a mental illness. Now, he can’t work as it has led to a physical illness.
Both mental and physical illnesses are medical conditions. Employment law recognizes substance abuse as a medical condition. LTD companies may get away with denying these types of claims (initially) because it is easy to put blame on the addict, and society does not always feel compassion for this situation. They may or may not have to pay, don’t interpret legal wording yourself.
You may need to think about why he used so much alcohol. Was there a trauma previously which led to this use. Maybe that is the “cause” of the disability. And maybe use of alcohol is the resulting behaviour. You also mentioned diabetes. Maybe this was a result of the alcohol, or maybe he would have had diabetes anyway. And diabetes also led to neuropathy. Maybe diabetes is the “cause”.
The situation may not be as straight forward as you think. Before you do anything else, make a consultation appt with Resolute Legal.
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I strongly agree with the above post. What proof does anyone have that your husband’s neuropathy was caused by alcohol? One single doctor that came to that conclusion after 2 years of tests? An experienced lawyer might very well be able to help you. Get the free consultation!!!
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I though of landlord/tenant law.
Landlords often put in conditions that are NOT legally enforceable.
I also recommend you get a free consult with Resolute.
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CPP disability doesn’t have exclusions like this. I agree with the others in here that you should have the long-term disability denial reviewed by a lawyer. We can do it without any charge.
David Brannen
Disability Lawyer with Resolute Legal
The response posted above is based on the limited factual information made available and is not intended as a full and complete response to the question. The only reliable manner to obtain complete and adequate legal advice is to consult with a lawyer, fully explain your situation, and allow the lawyer enough time to research the applicable law and facts required to give an adequate opinion. The basic information provided above is intended as a public service only, a full one-on-one discussion with a lawyer should be done before taking any any action. The information posted on this forum is available to the viewing public and is not intended to create a lawyer client relationship with any person. If you want one-on-one advice, please click here to request a free consultation or call toll free 1-877-917-7050 to speak with a member with our disability claim support team.
Now manulife has notified employer that after paying for one year, Ltd is cancelled.
Employer asked if going to appeal. Not planning to appeal.
After hearing that, employer asked for letter of resignation, but said be sure it is after five year employment anniversary.
Why would employer say after five years and why do I have to resign? I will never be able to work any job again, per dr.
Full story is polyneuropathy secondary to alcohol use. Alcohol has never been during work or affected job and polyneuropathy was reason for Ltd. Would manulife tell employer why privately paid Ltd is now denied? Planning to apply for cppd in the. Next few months.
NEVER resign!!! NEVER NEVER NEVER. Tell your employer you have no plans to resign and if they want to end your employment they will need to issue a termnation letter and provide appropriate severance. Make sure this request is sent to them in an email.
I wouldn’t expect severance.
Some employers do, some don’t.
I don’t think there is a rule.
Depends on whether this person wants to enforce their legal rights on severance.
Legally, if an employer can’t prove the basis of frustration of contract due to disability then they’d absolutely be owed severance either at the minimum established by the provinces employment act or the max established under the Canadian Common Law (which for long term employees can be up to 24 months of gross earnings).
It’s definitely worthwhile to talk to an employment lawyer before doing anything. Especially since this employer is being super shady as to tell the employee to resign. That’s a HUGE red flag.
When senior managers found out manulife stopped payments they asked my husband if there was anything they could do to help him.
Then a mid level manager who does not get along with home office hr manager said hr wanted to know if husband was going to appeal and hr mgr asked local mgr what he was doing to help my husband. He was rude to her in his response. Two weeks later my husband asked him how things were going between mgr and hr lady. The response was, she wants you to sign a letter of resignation but not before your five year anniversary.what is the significance of five years?
Not to be naive, but could the mgrs who wanted to help have found the frustration of contract law to be a way to help my husband? It’s a huge company and two years pay would be nothing to them. They give bonuses that cost less than this would. And the local mgr is mostly enjoying fighting white the hr lady more than conveying important messages to my husband.
Hr is sending the letter that they want my husband to sign. We don’t know what is says exactly.
In all my years of HR management requesting an employee to submit their resignation was always only a benefit to the employer, and it screwed the employee out of any chance of getting appropriate severance. That said, a good lawyer can undo a resignation if it is shown that the employee was coerced into resigning as that is considered constructive dismissal. Are you sure it’s a resignation letter and not a termination (with severance) letter they want him to sign?
Unless there is some clause in his employment contract or company policy that makes it beneficial to resign/terminate after 5 years, I WOULD NOT do so. You NEED to specifically ask why they are wanting him to wait for the 5 year mark. I’m super curious as to why… My gut tells me your husband’s company of trying to royally screw you guys over…don’t sign anything.
Also “frustration of contact” only helps the company as it means your husband doesn’t get any severance. Also, just because the employer says it’s “frustration of contract” doesn’t mean they are right…heck most the times I’ve seen this used the company was 100% wrong, but the employee never pushed back.
DEFINITELY get an employment lawyer to review the letter before doing anything. I’m sooooo curious as to what is in this letter…hopefully you will share the essence of it with the forum…
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Thank you very much. My husband plans to get the letter emailed so we can see what it says. I will absolutely share the info on here. I don’t think he will sign it.
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Finally reached out to home office and got answers.
They want a resignation because the Dr has said will never return to work.
They said wait until the five year mark because they give a gift for working five years. It was a gift card and a yeti tumbler.
Coworkers came to the house and installed easier to use hand rails and a wood fence to hold to get from the stairs to my van. The mgr Invited me to the Christmas party even after I resigned.
There was no chance for termination pay as you must be able to work to qualify for it. The mgr offered to make it a layoff if I wanted to try for ei, but to get ei, you must be able to and looking for work.
So, resignation is done and mgr and coworkers are still helping me.
I recommend you get a free consultation if you have not done so. Resignations like this are for the benefit of the employer, not the employee. Also, you should strongly consider appealing the LTD denial as well. Better to get legal advice now because there will be deadlines for you to act.
David Brannen
Disability Lawyer with Resolute Legal
The response posted above is based on the limited factual information made available and is not intended as a full and complete response to the question. The only reliable manner to obtain complete and adequate legal advice is to consult with a lawyer, fully explain your situation, and allow the lawyer enough time to research the applicable law and facts required to give an adequate opinion. The basic information provided above is intended as a public service only, a full one-on-one discussion with a lawyer should be done before taking any any action. The information posted on this forum is available to the viewing public and is not intended to create a lawyer client relationship with any person. If you want one-on-one advice, please click here to request a free consultation or call toll free 1-877-917-7050 to speak with a member with our disability claim support team.
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Or a pre-existing condition may disqualify him.
Sorry for for the slow reply. Been busy with the holidays.
Sounds like you have a nice manager and coworkers but…a big BUT…
Their reasons they asked you to resign (and that termination pay or severance is not owed) are wrong, and I would say unethical. It might be their opinion, but they need to legally prove your employment contract is frustrated before they can say you aren’t eligible for common law severance. A doctor writing “you won’t ever be returning to work” alone isn’t enough to prove frustration of contract. Frustration of contract is a complicated area of law, and I would have gotten an employment lawyer to enforce my rights.
I’d also get a LTD denial specialized lawyer to review your Manulife denial. I recently learned of a person who’s lawyer pushed back about a substance abuse denial clause and the insurance company reversed their denial and reinstated them after a strongly worded letter from their lawyer. A little bit of research and medical literature review and even I could easily make a case that your alcohol use was only a partial cause of your neuropathy, which would eliminate Manulife’s grounds for denial.
Please reach out to David and see if he can undo some of the injustices placed upon you.
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