Short Term Disability: A lot of companies have gone away from including this in their benefits package as it can be covered by EI.
This is true, but there may be some things that companies are not aware of when they make the decision to exclude this from their benefits package.
Although your employees can apply for short term disability through EI, there are some definite disadvantages for them doing this process instead of including short term disability from the benefits package.
When your employee applies for short term disability through EI, their benefits stop and then when they come back to work, they start all over in their benefits package which can be a 3 month wait period. This can be aggravating for long term employees and then it changes the date of their benefits starting.
When they are on EI short term disability, they have to purchase their own pharmaceutical products as they are no longer covered under their benefits package and can be an added cost at an already stressful time.
EI short term benefits are at a lower percentage, so their income is not as much as if they had short term benefits through the company.
Check with your employees when changing the benefits package and see what their thoughts are and if they would prefer having the option to pay extra cost for the short term disability through you instead.
I know from experience, I would much prefer paying extra monthly cost for the benefits package instead of using the EI short term disability benefits. It is a much better option and offers many benefits.
Questions to Ponder:
How much extra cost is involved in including short term disability?
What are the different benefit packages options to choose from and their costs?
When choosing the right benefits package for your business, look at a few different options to see which offers the best overall package for you and your employees.
