About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

LOG IN
LOG IN


112 Monthly Lab. Rev. 3 (1989)
Analyzing Short-Term Disability Benefits

handle is hein.journals/month112 and id is 541 raw text is: Analyzing short-term disability benefits For the first time, BLS has combined data on sick leave and sickness and accident insurance; results show that short-term disability benefits vary by length of service and between the private and public sectors JAMEs N. HouFF AND WILLIAM J. WIATROWsKI Since 1979, the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employee Bene- fits Survey (EBs) has reported on the availability of benefit plans that replace earnings lost during periods of short-term disability. Through 1986, this annual survey was conducted on full-time workers in medium and large private-sector firms whose minimum employment ranged from 50 to 250, depending on industry. Industries covered included manu- facturing; mining; construction; transportation, communica- tions, electric, gas, and sanitary services; wholesale trade; retail trade; finance, insurance, and real estate; and selected services.1 In 1987 the survey was conducted in State and local governments,2 and in 1988 it returned to the private- sector arena, for which survey findings are currently being tabulated. Regardless of year, the reports show that nearly all full-time employees of the sources surveyed have short- term protection, through either paid sick leave, paid sick- ness and accident insurance, or a combination of both. (See table 1.)3 All these EBS reports focused separately on the terms of sick leave and of sickness and accident insurance plans. James N. Houff and William J. Wiatrowski are labor economists in the Division of Occupational Pay and Employee Benefit Levels, Bureau of Labor Statistics. This article, the first to look at combined benefits from the two sources, presents new measures of the number of days of paid time off available to employees for short- term disabilities.4 By displaying the combined benefits of employees under more than one short-term disability plan, the new tabulations add to the existing data on in- dividual sick leave and sickness and accident insurance plans. Beginning with the publication of the 1988 survey findings, the new measures will be regular features of EBS reports. In the 1986 EBS, private-sector employees with 10 years of service had available an average of 127 days of short- term disability benefits. Since many of these days, partic- ularly those from sickness and accident insurance plans, were paid at less than the regular rate of pay, the average number of full-pay equivalent days available was 76. The comparable averages for State and local government em- ployees in 1987 were 47 days available and 28 full-pay equivalent days. Short-term disability benefits Of the two forms of short-term disability benefits, sick leave is often considered a continuation of salary and thus is most frequently found among salaried workers. As a result, %, 3