Year: 2021

Mandatory overtime, also known as forced overtime, happens when employees, including nurses and CNAs, are forced to work more hours than they had contracted to work upon hire (which is usually 40 hours per week). Forced overtime is imposed. Nurses, CNAs, and other employees cannot opt out of mandatory overtime—hence its name. While some nurses […]

Ensuring the Fair Adjudication of Your Long-Term Disability Claims Whether you’re eligible for individual or group long-term disability benefits depends on whether a disabling illness or injury prevents you from performing the material and substantial duties of your occupation. Many individual and group long-term disability insurers wrongfully delay, deny, or terminate long-term disability payments, claiming […]

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There are many myths floating around about disability insurance – the most common is that there isn’t much of a difference between SSDI and private long-term disability insurance. Often, Americans will choose to skip the latter because they think the former will provide for them if they become disabled.

If you suffer a disabling injury or illness that requires treatment and appropriate medical care for a short period of time (typically 12 months or less), short-term disability (STD) insurance benefits can provide you with income replacement. Your short-term disability  income replacement benefits are based on your monthly income, along with a predetermined percentage of […]

It can be somewhat confusing for most people to determine whether their long-term disability insurance benefits are taxable. Disability benefits may or may not be taxable depending on who made the premium payments and whether those payments are deductible. Social Security disability insurance (SDDI) benefits may be taxable; the IRS provides further explanation of when […]

Did you suffer a disability? Are you unable to work in any capacity, or can you work in some occupations—just not in the same profession as before the onset of your disability? For most insurance companies, whether you qualify as partially or totally disabled is determined by the specific language in the policy. Your level […]

A common thread among individual and group disability insurance policies, particularly for private insurers, is the explicit or implicit requirement of physicality for disability claim approvals. Sometimes, this requirement is made explicit by the policy’s language, which may categorically exclude mental disorders and conditions. Other times, this need to list a physical illness or injury […]

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, nursing was already one of the most sought after professions in the United States, and in 2019 ranked as the third-most in-demand of any job. Unfortunately, the profession faces some hurdles which might indicate trends in new and mounting disability claims. As seasoned nurses continue to age and populations rise, […]

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) reported that 1 in 5 U.S. adults – 51.5 million people – experience mental illness each year, but less than half get treatment. Mental illnesses are estimated to cost patients almost $200 billion in lost earnings per year. Since the pandemic began, DarrasLaw has seen a rise in […]

Basic disability monthly benefits are the same under most individual or group long-term disability insurance plans—that is, you should receive income-replacement payments if you are sick or injured and rendered either totally or partially disabled. Each individual or group long-term disability insurer will draft specific contractual language that will govern your claim. While it is great to […]