What Is Short-Term Disability Insurance?
An employee’s savings might not be enough if an illness, injury or pregnancy keeps them out of work beyond their paid sick days. Short-term disability insurance (STD) helps protect employee income during extended work absences and can help employees pay the bills when they cannot work due to a covered claim.
Why Employees Need Short-Term Disability Insurance (STD)
Every second, a disabling injury changes someone’s life.1
Health insurance only covers medical bills. It won’t pay for groceries or rent.
And Workers’ Compensation kicks in only in the event of a work-related accident or injury.
The Hartford’s short-term disability plan can help maintain productivity by helping employees stay on the job. If they do incur an illness or injury, The Hartford can provide the resources employees need to help them return to work as soon as they are reasonably able.
What Short-Term Disability Insurance Covers
Short-term disability insurance replaces a portion of an employee’s income for covered injuries sustained outside of work.
Some common examples:
- Rehab
- Maternity leave
- Runner’s knee
- Whiplash
- Tennis elbow
- Surgery recovery
- Bunion removal
- Carpal tunnel syndrome
- Stress/anxiety
- Tendonitis
- Herniated disks
- Broken bones
Flexible Short-Term Disability Insurance for Businesses
Short-term disability insurance gives employees peace of mind. Businesses can customize their short-term disability insurance policy to be a stand-alone plan, complement an employer-paid short-term disability plan or work with a long-term disability plan to help ensure continuity of coverage.
Benefits include:
- Various benefit start dates, including first day injury
- Benefit durations up to 52 weeks
- Benefit amounts that include 50%-67% of income loss
- Clinical claims management through highly trained nurses
What Employees Get
The Hartford goes beyond the benefit with built-in value-added services to support an employee’s recovery – at no extra cost to the company or the employee.
- Ability Assist®4 – Provides confidential support for emotional, legal and financial issues
- HealthChampionSM5 – Offers unlimited access to benefit specialists and nurses who can provide administrative and clinical support to address medical care and claims concerns