Loyalty At The Workplace: Does It Pay?

We are taught from a very early age about various human qualities such as honesty, integrity and above all loyalty!

We go through life with the assumption that if we are loyal in all sorts of relationships in our life, emotional, sociological etc. We shall expect to gather the most fruitful results from such. Not true!

Society as a whole now renders a promise to “take care” of those less fortunate, as the homeless, the disabled etc. Let’s bring this story machine to a halt on that one: disabled.

Those suffering from a temporary and/or permanent disability are still on the short end of the receiving stick. People who suddenly become disabled whether due to an accident and/or illness can still expect to receive little or no sympathy at all. Whether from their social peers. Especially those that remark: “ I know how you feel.”

Your place of work will provide you with forms to be filled out by your health provider, not just proving your inability to work, as per guidelines set by the Disability Act, but to provide you with a guarantee that your job will not be extinct once you return after the 12 provided weeks of medical leave.

So at this point, not only are you to be dealing with the recuperation part of your illness. But you must also ensure that all guidelines are met to ensure you will have a job to go back to once you recover. And if you’re lucky, there will at least some type of short term disability coverage available to carry you financially through the 12 weeks allotted for the leave.

Which brings us to my story of today:

The company I work for decided at the end of last year to do away with the HR company in place at the time handling their payroll, benefit packages and HR administrative duties. They switched to another HR company. In the course of this transition they literally pulled away the short term disability insurance that some employees were providing for themselves via payroll deductions.

No one, absolutely no one received any notification of their intended actions to do away with such plan. I for one found out about this after receiving three past due invoices from the insurance provider, billing me for the obviously monthly premiums unpaid by my employer.

When I confronted management at work I was given a brief explanation as to their decision to do away with the present coverage but that we would be given to choose from another plan very soon. That was January of this year, and to date we still do not have the new plan put in place.

I for one, contributed 60 of my hard earned dollars to such a plan for almost two years.

And here comes the moment when I need it the most.

I incurred a spinal injury several years ago that left me incapacitated and confined to a wheel chair for about two years. After which, thanks to a pair of titanium rods known as Harrington Rods, which were attached to my spine by surgical procedure, I was able to walk and join the work force once again.

Approximately two weeks ago, I went for some blood tests during the early morning hours on my way to work. I fainted right after the needle was presented on my arm. I took a fall and hurt my back ( adorned with the titanium Harrington rods for 12 years now).

I sustained an internal “rupture” caused by the abrupt pulling of one of the hooks sustaining the metal rods attached to my spine.

I was placed on antibiotics (to prevent infection), a smorgasbord of pain killers, muscle relaxers, and above all “complete rest” to allow for healing to take place.

I got in contact with management at my place of work to advise them of my current medical situation. Also inquire as to what type of benefits now available for me to drawn on while I am medically unable to return to work.

Upon knowledge of an existing “long term disability insurance” being in place. Such provided by our employer at no cost to the employee. I asked if by chance I am able to extract benefits from such in lieu of the non-existent short term disability plan that was previously taken away from us.

I am “assured” by my Human Resources Manager at work that she will proceed to “look into” the matter and get back to me with information.

Here is what I was told:

In regards to the Long Term Disability, yes we do have a Long Term Disability benefits available to you with a qualifying period of 90 days of disability due to related sickness or injury. This benefit pays 50% of your covered earnings up to a maximum of a $1000 per month. I have attached the Long Term Disability Claim Statement Form which includes the Claimant Statement and the Attending Physician’s Initial Statement of Disability which can be sent directly to the insurance company after 60 days of continuous disability.