Employers use insurance benefits to give workers a sense of comfort. These comforts range from providing a source of income to employers during a time in which they are disabled to providing life insurance in an attempt to ease an employee’s worries about the financial status of family members left behind. Insurance can help to provide for long term health care during an employee’s elder years. Some companies opt to pay for full insurance coverage of their employees while others offer graduated plans that offer limited coverage for newer employees. This graduated system allows employees to earn more insurance coverage based on the length of time that they remain with the company.

Disability Insurance

There are government run programs designed to help workers who have become disabled and unable to work. However, California, Hawaii, New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island are the only five states that have mandatory disability insurance for their residents. In many states some forms of disability are not covered by government programs. This is why disability insurance has become an important benefit and drawing card for employers looking to obtain the most talented workers available. The two types of disability insurance are short term disability and long term disability.

Short Term Disability

Short Term Disability (STD) is offered to workers more frequently than Long Term Disability (LTD) because of the increased likelihood of a worker incurring a minor injury or needing maternity leave. Most STD plans require a minimum number of hours per week for a specific number of days continuously. A basic requirement for most STD plans is that an employee must work 30 hours per week and have worked 90 business days continuously to qualify for STD coverage.

Long Term Disability

On average, twelve percent of the American working population incurs a long term disability and by the age of 65, one out of every seven workers has the statistical probability of incurring an injury that will cause long term disability. Long term insurance usually begins to take effect and provide income to a worker after the period of time covered by STD has expired.

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