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Disability Insurance

Help your employees protect their finances. Many Americans have little to fall back on if a covered injury or illness prevents them from working. Unum Disability Insurance can pay benefits to help them keep the bills covered, so they can focus on getting well and returning to work.

The protection your workforce needs — and wants

By offering a full range of disability benefits, you can ensure your employees are covered in the event they’re unable to work. And the result? A happier, more dedicated and more productive workforce for you.

Almost half (48%) of U.S. workers would only be able to maintain their finances for two months if they had to miss work due to an injury, accident, or serious medical condition.1 For these employees, even a minor illness can cause financial hardship, and a serious health problem or injury could be financially devastating. Unum Disability Insurance can provide a benefit to replace a portion of an employee's lost income.

A single disability can leave employees vulnerable to financial problems that can affect their ability to focus on work once they recover. Disability Insurance is designed to help them when they're unable to work and can provide additional support through return-to-work benefits and programs.
Group Disability Insurance is cost-effective, even for small companies. Costs vary depending on your industry and the type of plan you choose. We can work with you and your broker to design a solution that includes flexible funding options, so you can share the cost of coverage with your employees.
Whether you have two employees or 20,000, Unum offers coverage to help you attract and retain top-quality people. We can work with you consultatively to build plans tailored to fit your needs at a price you can afford.
We make administering group disability benefits fast and easy. Use our online tools to pay premiums, change employee information and enjoy instant access to services and information 24 hours a day.

How Unum Disability Insurance works

You can offer three types of Disability Insurance to your employees — coverage can be employer-paid, employee-paid or shared funding.

Through return-to-work benefits and programs, Unum also helps employees come back to their jobs, saving you the cost and disruption of lost productivity — or hiring replacements.

When the time is right, we equip employees with the resources they need to prepare for their transition back to the workplace, including verifying return dates, facilitating paperwork, reimbursing for worksite modifications and more. Return-to-work resources are standard with all Unum Short and Long Term Disability Insurance plans.2

Together, these plans can offer valuable coverage that can help your employees through a disability.

Short Term Disability Insurance

This benefit can pay a portion of an employee’s compensation while they are out of work due to a covered injury, sickness or childbirth. Benefits can last for up to several weeks.

Long Term Disability Insurance

Long Term Disability Insurance coverage typically begins where Short Term Disability coverage leaves off, providing benefits for covered illnesses or injuries that have longer recovery periods. Coverage can last from several months to several years.

Supplemental Individual Disability Insurance (IDI)

IDI can provide additional protection for uninsured income, making it ideal for higher salary earners and employees who rely on commissions and bonuses that might not be covered under traditional Long Term Disability Insurance.

  Short Term* Long Term Individual
Length of possible coverage payments 9-52 weeks Benefits can be payable until retirement age Benefits can be payable until retirement age
Amount that the benefit can pay Up to 60% of your monthly income Up to 60% of your monthly income A higher percentage of your pre-disability earnings
Portability Sometimes portable, depending on plan Portable in most cases Individually owned and can be ported
Commonly used by people who experience
  • Pregnancy
  • Injuries
  • Joint disorders
  • Digestive issues
  • Cancer
  • Cancer
  • Back disorders
  • Injuries
  • Cardiovascular disease
  • Joint disorders
  • Musculoskeletal issues
  • Cancer
  • Back disorders — excluding injury
  • Cardiovascular disease
  • Nervous system disorders
  • Behavioral health issues

How disability coverage stacks up

By offering both Short and Long Term Disability Insurance through Unum, the plans can work together to keep employees protected when a disability lingers. The long term policy picks up when the short term policy ends, so employees do not wind up “between plans” and face a period without income. IDI provides additional protection for employees who earn higher incomes.

Additional services that complement Disability Insurance

Available with select Unum employee benefits plans, these services help your employees be even more prepared for challenges life might throw their way.3

Work-life balance employee assistance program (EAP)

Unum’s work-life balance EAP4 can help employees prepare for the unpredictable — and keep small struggles from turning into major issues. With this program, they can receive guidance and support for issues that take their attention away from your business. For applicable plans, we provide flyers and wallet cards so employees can easily access help right when they need it. And that means they can be more productive at work and home.

Emergency travel assistance

Even the most thorough itinerary can’t prevent lost medication, accidents or sudden illnesses. So help your employees prepare — with Unum’s worldwide emergency travel assistance5. This service is available 24/7 to employees when they travel 100 or more miles away from home, whether for work or pleasure.

HR®/BenefitsAnswersNow™

Plan administrators and managers have a responsibility to stay current on employment laws and insurance guidelines. HR/BenefitsAnswersNow6 puts all the answers you need in one place. These two constantly updated online libraries contain HR compliance and benefits information.

Leave and absence management

Introducing Unum Total Leave

Total Leave helps streamline absence management for HR while making leave easy and accessible for employees.

Commonly asked questions about Unum Disability Insurance

With 175 years of employee benefits focus and expertise, Unum has a proven track record of helping companies across the nation offer the best benefits to their employees. We serve 57% of Fortune 100 companies or their subsidiaries and affiliates, protecting 36 million employees and their families.7

In general, your employees should have enough disability coverage to replace 60% of their after-tax income. However, this number can vary based on several factors, such as recurrent debt payments and monthly living expenses.

An employee is considered to be disabled on the date that they meet the definition of disability as outlined in their policy. Medical records and information from a physician will help determine that date. Common illnesses and conditions that may lead to disability include7:

  • Pregnancy and childbirth
  • Cancer
  • Heart attacks
  • Strokes
  • Surgery

Excluded disabilities can vary by policy, but typically include:

  • Intentionally self-inflicted injuries
  • Active participation in a riot
  • Loss of professional or occupational license or certificate
  • Commission of a crime for which the individual has been convicted
  • For Short-Term Disability Insurance: occupational sickness or injury (however, Unum will cover disabilities due to occupational sicknesses or injuries for partners or sole proprietors who cannot be covered by workers' compensation plans)
  • Pre-existing conditions (if applicable)
  • War, declared or undeclared, or any act of war
  • Any period of disability during which they are incarcerated

Limitations include:

  • Employee must be under the regular care of a physician in order to be considered disabled.
  • The loss of a professional or occupational license or certification does not, in itself, constitute disability.
  • Pre-existing condition limitations will vary according to the individual contract.

Policyholders can do this and more in their account.

Most plans allow for recurrent disability. If an employee becomes disabled again due to the same condition within a specified number of days, the recurrent provision allows continued disability payments under the original claim.

The number of days for the recurrent provision is stated in the policy. If the employee becomes disabled after the number of days in the recurrent provision or due to a new medical condition, they will need to file a new claim.

We make it easy to protect your workforce

Our simple digital claims app streamlines administration for you while making it easy for employees to enroll, make claims and get support. Help your workforce protect their finances and way of life with Unum Disability Insurance.

*Group and Individual

  1. Unum, Survey of 1,000 Full-time U.S. Workers, November 2022.
  2. Unum will determine when and to what extent return to work services are appropriate.
  3. Services not available in all states.
  4. The work-life balance employee assistance program, provided by HealthAdvocate, is available with select Unum insurance offerings. Terms and availability of service are subject to change. Service provider does not provide legal advice; please consult your attorney for guidance. Services are not valid after coverage terminates. Please contact your Unum representative for details.
  5. Worldwide emergency travel assistance services, provided by Assist America, Inc., are available with select Unum insurance offerings. Terms and availability of service are subject to change and prior notification requirements. Services are not valid after coverage terminates. Please contact your Unum representative for details.
  6. HRAnswersNow® and BenefitAnswersNow™, provided by CCH, are available with select Unum insurance offerings. Terms and availability of service are subject to change. Service provider does not provide legal advice; please consult your attorney for guidance. Services are not valid after coverage terminates. Please contact your Unum representative for details.
  7. Fortune 500 2022; Unum internal data, 2022

State mandated limitations for legal services in WA apply.

This advertisement has not been approved in New Mexico and Oregon.

THIS IS AN EXCEPTED BENEFITS POLICY. IT PROVIDES COVERAGE ONLY FOR THE LIMITED BENEFITS OR SERVICES SPECIFIED IN THE POLICY.

These policies provide disability income insurance only. They do NOT provide basic hospital, basic medical or major medical insurance as defined by the New York State Department of Financial Services. The expected benefit ratio for policy form 850 is 54%, 850-F is 61%, 851 is 60%, 851-F is 67% and FUL-21776 is 50%. This ratio is the portion of future premiums that the company expects to return as benefits, when averaged over all people with this policy.

The policies or their provisions may vary or be unavailable in some states. The policies have exclusions and limitations which may affect any benefits payable. See the actual policy or your Unum representative for specific provisions and details of availability. Applicable to policy forms C.FP-1 et.al, 850 and 851, L-21776 or FUL-21776.

Group disability: Underwritten by Unum Life Insurance Company of America, Portland, ME. In New York, underwritten by First Unum Life Insurance Company, Garden City, NY.

IDI: Underwritten by Provident Life and Accident Insurance Company, Chattanooga, TN. In New York, underwritten by Provident Life and Casualty Insurance Company, Chattanooga, TN.

Individual Short-Term disability: Underwritten by Provident Life and Accident Insurance, Chattanooga, TN. In New York, underwritten by First Unum Life Insurance Company.