I got a raise while on short-term disability. It's retroactive to before my claim started. How does this work?

[hopeandgrace]

I had major surgery and went on short-term medical disability starting in February and going to late March. Guardian pays 60% of my salary. I do not have company IT access while I am away.

I returned from leave for about two weeks, but now I need to go back on disability leave starting Monday for another several weeks due to pain and complications from my surgery.

During those two weeks back, I saw that I had gotten my annual raise as part of the company-wide schedule, which was back-dated to January 1. This is generally how they handle these due to payroll processing delays, etc. The company issued a "catchup" retro payment to everyone in March and everyone is now being paid at their 2024 rate, whatever that is.

For the entirety of my claim, Guardian showed my original (2023) pay rate, and is paying me 60% of that. The difference is significant, about $600.

I will reach out to my company's coordinator, but what is the likelihood that Guardian honors:

a) The backdate increase of January 1 to cover February and March,

b) The rate change from whenever it was determined, or

c) My current rate, going forward on my claim?

I am hoping that my coordinator can just remedy this by claiming an accounting error from the start, but will Guardian budge on this?

 

[qity]

@hopeandgrace This will be specifically spelled out in the policy and on your EOB (explanation of benefits) but it's likely the average earnings over the last 12 months that the 60% is based on.