Health & Productivity Connections: An Employer's Guide to Managing Lost Time

Researchers at UnumProvident evaluated the relationship between an employee's use of Family and Medical Leave (FML) days and the employee's use of short-term disability benefits. The usage of FML and short-term disability claims data from six employers (three manufacturers, one call center, one health care provider, one financial institution) were studied. The employees were grouped by the number of FML days used and short-term disability claims. The disability claims were evaluated to determine the relationship between conditions and claims. The researchers used data provided by the UnumProvident Disability Claims Database. Within the four groups:

• Group 1 - No disability or FML use
   
• Group 2 - Only FML but no disability
   
• Group 3 - More than two uses of FML plus disability, 15% filed claims for mental health disability
   
• Group 4 - Less than two uses of FML plus disability, 9% filed claims for mental health disability

In both groups that filed disability claims, mental health issues were the third highest cause of disability. Injury or musculoskeletal disease accounted for 23% of claims in Group 3 and 24% in Group 4. Pregnancy complications accounted for 17% of claims in Group 3 and 20% in Group 4. In 2005, between 20% and 30% of UnumProvident short-term disability claims were due to injuries. Mental illness, cancer, and circulatory problems each triggered between five and ten percent of short-term disability claims.