Can you file for disability after your maritime Jones Act injury? Will filing for social security hurt your Jones Act case?
0:07 Can you apply for short-term disability or long-term disability under your Jones Act case? Will applying for long-term disability hurt your maritime case? I’m maritime attorney Tim Young and our office has helped hundreds of injured maritime workers over the years.
0:21 You are absolutely entitled to file a claim under short-term and long-term disability and it will not hurt your maritime case. A lot of times short-term disability policies do not cover work injuries so you may not actually qualify for it even if you do apply, but most long-term disability policies will cover work-related injuries.
0:42 We advise all of our clients to absolutely apply for short-term and long-term disability. It’s not going to penalize them or hurt them at all.
0:51 A lot of companies will discourage you from applying for short-term and long-term disability because, in their mind, they don’t want you receiving a check from a third party that’s going to let you stay at home, receive medical treatment that you may need, and pay your bills without relying on the company.
1:06 We immediately advise all of our clients, fill out the short-term paperwork. Fill out the long-term paperwork and go ahead and apply.
1:13 You need to also understand about short-term and long-term that it is a relationship between you and an insurance company, separate and apart from your employer. Even if your employer may “provide” the short-term, long-term disability to you, it’s actually a relationship that you have through premiums that have been paid and it’s with an entirely separate entity.
1:35 Another thing you need to understand about long-term disability is that there are two types of policies: one policy will cover you essentially for two years after which if you can do any type of work, they’re going to stop paying you. We call those two-year policies. Those two years of getting disability give you enough time to keep you and your family afloat, pay your bills, where you don’t lose anything or everything during your case.
2:00 The second type of disability policies generally go beyond two years and the language that they use is if you are not able to make substantially the same amount that you used to make, then you’re still disabled after two years.
2:12 These can be very valuable policies. It’s critical that you pull your short-term and long-term disability policies and look at them. We also advise everyone to go ahead and apply for short-term and long-term disability. It’s not going to hurt your Jones Act or maritime injury case.
2:27 Call us if you have any questions at all about short or long-term disability under the Jones Act or under maritime law.
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