10.
Are my short term disability income payments taxable?
No, since the premium payments are paid through payroll and are not “pre-taxed”, the benefits will not be taxed. Some benefits federal employees have are “pre-taxed” like health insurance. If you were to “pre-tax” payments for STD, they would be taxable, but since they are not, you do not have to worry about this.
11.
Do I have to use my sick or annual time before my coverage begins?
No, this is another great feature about STD. Some polices that you can buy make you use up all sick time, annual time, comp time or any other benefits that you have before they will pay benefits. Not STD, these polices will pay in addition to most all other benefits. If you have a STD policy, you can keep your sick, annual and comp time and use it at a later date. As a federal employee, you can “sell” you’re sick time back the federal government to help with your retirement pension when the time comes to retire*.
12.
Is it true, short term disability is the easiest type of disability to get paid for accidents and sickness?
Yes, some disability policies, long term disability (LTD), are harder to get paid compared to STD. Most STD polices have a shorter elimination period, the waiting time to get paid, LTD also sometimes have different definitions on disability, this makes harder to get through underwriting. Most if not all LTD polices will never cover Maternity which falls under sickness, this may not seem like a big deal, but as we have said for years, “if a STD policy covers Maternity, they will almost cover anything”