A lot of people ask me, “How do I know if I have an ERISA disability case or a social security disability case or some other form of disability case?” And what we do here is we only focus on ERISA long-term disability cases and we’ll also handle some short-term disability cases too depending on the situation. So the difference is an ERISA long-term disability case only exists if you were employed by an employer who carries an insurance policy that covers your disability. It doesn’t matter if your injury or if your disability happened while you were physically working. All that matters is that you were injured while you were employed at this employer and the policy considers you an employee.
Example:
So for example, if you have a massive stroke or a heart attack or something like that, it could be on the weekend when you were far away from your employer, but that medical condition causes you to be unable to work the main duties of your occupation, then you are considered disabled under that insurance policy that your employer pays the premium for and is considered an employee benefit for you. So that is all governed by a federal statute called ERISA, which stands for the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, ERISA. So that is how you will know if you have an ERISA long-term disability plan if you were employed by an employer who carries that type of policy that ensures you and your disability should you not be able to perform the main duties of your occupation anymore.
ERISA is More Beneficial Than SSD
Usually, these benefits that your employer provides are much greater than what social security disability can provide. So make sure that if you become disabled, you look for these sorts of policies to make sure that you can get the most income that you can get so that you can provide for your family, put food on your table, and put a roof over your head and provide for your transportation. Those are the most important things that you need.
We’re here to help. Let us know what you want to know about your disability case and we’d be happy to answer as much as we can. Thanks.