Introduction
This guide for staff describes the process of applying for long-term disability benefits. If you are on medical leave and unable to work for more than a four- or six-month period (depending on your employee group) due to illness or injury, you may qualify for long-term disability, which will provide you with a monthly income based on a percentage of your pre-disability gross monthly salary.
For staff employees, the long-term disability plan is called the Disability Benefit Plan (DBP). Sun Life is the University’s insurer of the Disability Benefit Plan.
The claims process includes the following steps, each of which is described in detail later in this guide:
- Inform your employer
- Decide if you want to maintain your group benefits, if applicable
- Apply for Employment Insurance Sickness Benefits, if applicable
- Complete the long-term disability application forms
- Submit your long-term disability claim
- Sun Life reviews your claim
- Sun Life notifies you of their decision on your claim
- Claim Approval
- Pending Decision
- Claim Decline
- Submitting an Appeal
We’ve also included a list of Useful Links and Frequently Asked Questions. For more information on disability benefits, please visit our Income Replacement Plan & Disability Benefit Plan page and select your employee group.
Disability Benefit Plan claims process
Getting to know the key players and their roles
- You will need to notify your UBC Department that you require a leave of absence and provide medical documentation to support your request. If you are medically cleared to work, your department may need to provide you with modified working hours and duties depending on your illness or injury.
- The UBC Benefits Claims & Administration Associate will verify your DBP coverage, help you with the DBP claim application process and act as the primary contact/liaison for any questions regarding your claim.
- To ensure privacy and confidentiality, neither a UBC or a Sun Life representative can answer specific questions about the information you include on your claim form until you have been assigned a Sun Life Disability Case Manager. Once assigned a Sun Life Disability Case Manager, you can ask further questions about your claim.
- The UBC Leave of Absence Desk will invoice you for the cost of your continued benefits coverage if you take an unpaid leave of absence before the start date of your long-term disability benefits.
- Your Union or Employee Group (if applicable) is an important resource for general support and informative advice.
- A Sun Life Disability Case Manager will assess your DBP claim and be involved in the ongoing management of your claim.
- A UBC Workplace Health Services (WHS) Return to Work Advisor and Accommodations (if applicable) can help guide the process before the claim, and/or once there is a predicted return to work, help facilitate your safe and sustainable return to work.
Your responsibilities
You must complete the elimination period before you can begin receiving benefits under the DBP. This elimination period begins the first day you miss work due to your illness or injury, and ends after 6 months (or 4 months for CUPE 2950 employees).
During the elimination period, you are responsible for:
- Submiting your application to Sun Life at least eight weeks before the end of the elimination period. This will give Sun Life the time they need to conduct their assessment and let you know their decision on your claim before the end of your elimination period, if possible.
- Checking your Workday Inbox to complete the Go On Leave benefits task once your paid sick time is exhausted and you are placed on unpaid leave.
- Participating in discussions regarding your return to work when the opportunity is identified and return to your own occupation as soon as it is safe and healthy for you to do so.
Stage 1: Inform your employer
Contact the UBC Benefits Claims & Administration Associate if you want to discuss eligibility criteria and learn more about how to submit a claim.
It is important to let your Department know that you will need to be off work due to illness or injury. You will be required to provide medical documentation to support your request for a medical leave. Alternatively, if you are currently involved in the Workplace Health Services Remain at Work/Return to Work Program, you will have a Return to Work Advisor managing your case with your department.
You may also want to talk with your department about your eligibility for paid sick leave during the elimination period, or the options available to you if you use up your paid sick leave. Disability benefits are not payable until the end of a four or six-month elimination period (depending on your employee group) has been satisfied, so it is important to learn about your options.
For information on the length of your elimination period, please contact the Benefits Claims & Administration Associate (disabilityclaims.info@ubc.ca) or visit our Income Replacement Plan & Disability Benefit Plan page.
For information on your eligibility for paid sick leave, please visit our Leaves page, or contact your department’s administrator.
Your Union or Employee Group can also play an important role during this time. Please contact their office if you want additional information on options that may be available to you.
Stage 2: Decide if you want to maintain your group benefits, if applicable
If you are approved for disability benefits, your coverage for the benefits you were enrolled in on the day before the start date of your disability benefit payments will continue at no cost to you. This benefits coverage will continue while you are receiving disability benefits, provided that your employment status with the University does not end.
Ideally, you will have enough paid sick leave so that you will continue to receive your full salary during the elimination period. However, if you do not have enough paid sick leave to cover the length of your elimination period, you will be required to take an unpaid leave of absence.
If you are on an unpaid leave of absence during the elimination period, you will receive a Benefits Task in your Workday inbox to make your elections for On Leave benefit plans. You can choose to continue all, some or none of your benefits. You are responsible for paying the full cost (employee plus employer share) for any benefits you choose to continue. Once you submit your benefit elections, a Leave of Absence Desk representative from Payroll will check that your benefits elections are correct and notify you of the monthly cost.
If you choose not to continue all or some of your benefits while you are on unpaid leave, please know that if you are approved for DBP, you will not receive coverage for these discontinued benefits for the duration of your approved long-term disability claim.
Stage 3: Apply for Employment Insurance Sickness Benefits, if applicable
As noted in Stage 2, if you do not have enough paid sick leave to cover the length of your elimination period, you will be required to take an unpaid leave of absence. You may be eligible for Employment Insurance (EI) Sickness Benefits through Service Canada during this period. Once you have submitted an application, there is a one-week waiting period for EI benefits, during which time you will not receive any benefits. If approved, you may receive EI Sickness Benefits for a maximum of 15 weeks.
If you are approved for disability benefit payments while receiving EI Sickness Benefits, you must report this to Service Canada.
For more information on the EI application process, please visit the Service Canada website.
Stage 4: Complete the long-term disability application forms
Email disabilityclaims.info@ubc.ca to obtain the application forms you’ll need.
The application package includes:
Introduction letter
The introduction letter provides instructions on the claim process and lists the Contract number and Division/Billing group number. If you obtain the IRP/DBP application forms online, please contact the Benefits Claims & Administration Associate either by email or phone to confirm the Plan Sponsor information.
Plan Member’s statement
You are responsible for completing this form. In the Plan Member’s Statement, you are required to provide Sun Life with information about your condition, how it occurred, your general medical history and your expected sources of income and benefits while you’re on leave.
Important Reminders:
- Be sure to answer all the questions in full to avoid delays, and include a detailed job description and resume showing your previous job experience and education history. Please keep in mind this is a standard form and that the questions are intended to cover a variety of conditions. If you need more space to answer any of the questions, you can attach additional pages to the form.
- When completing the section on your general medical history, you only need to provide 3-years of medical history. If this information is difficult and unreasonable to obtain, please raise this with your assigned Sun Life Disability Case Manager.
- Ensure that all dates you provide (such as the date you were first unable to work, the date of the accident, etc.) are correct as they are essential to Sun Life’s assessment of the claim.
- Please provide the required document outlined in the “Automatic deposit of your disability payments” section of the Statement if you would like to have your payments deposited directly into your bank account. For chequing accounts, Sun Life will require a personalized VOID cheque.
- Please read and sign the Declaration and Authorization, which allows Sun Life to exchange information with your doctor and any other healthcare professionals who are involved in your care. Also, please sign Part 1 of the Attending Physician’s Statement before giving the form to your physician to complete.
- If there are any sections or questions for your claim that you are unsure of or are unable to respond to, please note these for discussion with your assigned Sun Life Disability Case Manager.
Attending Physician’s statement
This form is to be completed by your doctor. In the Attending Physician’s Statement, your doctor is required to provide Sun Life with specific medical information about your condition and your expected recovery.
Important Reminders:
- Your doctor’s Attending Physician’s Statement must provide a diagnosis and prognosis of your condition. This form can be completed by any medical professional who is a doctor of medicine and has treated you for your condition (i.e. your family doctor, a doctor at a walk-in clinic, a specialist, etc.).
- If your doctor has conducted tests, all of the findings must be included in the Statement or as an attachment.
- If you have seen a specialist for your condition, your doctor must attach copies of all consultation and clinical notes with the Statement. Often, Sun Life must follow up to request these documents, which can delay the assessment of a claim.
- If you are charged a fee for completion of the Attending Physician Statement, you may claim this fee through your UBC Health Spending Account if your UBC employee group has this coverage.
NOTE: Do not change or write anything on the Attending Physician’s Statement, except to complete and sign Part 1: Plan Member Information. Any changes to the Statement must be initialled by your doctor.
Plan Sponsor’s statement
This is to be completed by your Department when your claim has been initiated. The Benefits Claims & Administration Associate will work with your Department’s Administrator or Human Resources Manager to complete the Plan Sponsor’s Statement and submit the form to Sun Life.
A "for reference" copy of this form is included in the DBP application package, so that you are aware of the information Sun Life requests from the University.
Stage 5: Submit your long-term disability claim
Sun Life requires three forms, as described above: the Plan Member’s Statement, the Attending Physician’s Statement and the Plan Sponsor’s Statement. Sun Life recommends that completed claim forms be sent at least eight weeks before the end of the elimination period. Sun Life cannot assess your claim until they receive all three forms from you, your doctor and UBC. This provides Sun Life with sufficient time to review your claim and obtain any additional information that they may require to complete the assessment of your claim.
Please send your forms directly to Sun Life using their secure fax number, mail, the Sun Life Plan Members website or the Sun Life Mobile App. See the last page of the Plan Members Statement for information on submitting your forms to Sun Life.
Be sure your group Contract number, Division/Billing group number and your Member ID number (this is your UBC employee number) are clearly shown on your Plan Member’s Statement and Attending Physician’s Statement before submitting your forms. If you need to confirm these numbers, please contact the Benefits Claims & Administration Associate who will be able to provide you with this information.
Sun Life Contact Information:
Mailing Address: PO Box 48810 Stn. Bentall, Vancouver, BC V7X 1A6
Fax Number: 1 (866) 639-7829
Important Note: If the plan member is not able to complete and sign the Plan Member’s Statement and Part 1 of the Attending Physician’s Statement due to a medical condition, and has no power of attorney, an immediate family member may complete the forms. If the claim is approved, Sun Life will pay up to a maximum of $10,000 in disability benefits without power of attorney on file.
Stage 6: Sun Life reviews your claim
The Sun Life Disability Case Manager will consider a number of different factors when assessing the information on your claim. Sun Life looks at the medical information, information about your ability to function and carry on daily living activities, your occupational demands, your work environment and how your illness would affect your ability to perform the demands of your occupation.
As part of this review, the Sun Life Disability Case Manager will be contacting you to conduct a telephone interview. This phone conversation will give you the opportunity to ask questions about your claim.
Stage 7: Sun Life notifies you of their decision on your claim
After reviewing your claim, Sun Life may decide to:
- Approve your claim
- Ask for additional information
- Decline your claim
Claim approval
If Sun Life approves your claim, they will notify you in writing and send a redacted copy of this letter to the Benefits Claims & Administration Associate.
The Benefits Claims & Administration Associate will also notify you in writing that your claim has been approved. Once the Benefits Claims & Administration Associate has been notified of your claim approval they will send you instructions to complete a Go On Leave Benefits Task in Workday. Once you complete the task, you will be able to retain your group benefits plan during the period of your approved disability claim.
If you are entitled to receive benefits from other sources as a result of your disability, the amount of benefit paid may be reduced by additional sources of income, such as:
- CPP or QPP disability benefits (excluding dependents’ benefits);
- Disability payments from any other government plan (excluding Employment Insurance and Veteran Affairs Canada benefits);
- Worker’s Compensation benefits;
- Income replacement benefits from any automobile insurance plan or policy;
- Income from other group benefit, pension or retirement plans provided by any employer when benefits are based on UBC earnings, and as a result of UBC employment, including any coverage resulting from your membership in an association of any kind;
- Payments or earnings from any employer for any work for wage or profit as approved by the Plan Administrator (Sun Life), except for vacation pay and payments from the Living Benefits Loan Program;
- Any past or future wage loss recovered through a legally enforceable cause of action against some other person or corporation in accordance with provisions under Third Party Liability.
For a complete list of reductions and limitations, please go to our Income Replacement Plan & Disability Benefit Plan page and select your employee group. If available, please carefully review the Sun Life Benefits Booklet/Handbook for your employee group. There will be a link under your employee group’s plan if there is a current version available.
For more information on CPP or QPP disability benefits, please check the Service Canada website.
If you are eligible to apply for CPP disability benefits, Sun Life will require you to do so if your claim is approved. Sun Life will send you written notification with the required application forms. Please note that CPP disability benefits are taxable. If you are receiving CPP disability benefits, CPP will waive your pension contributions while on disability, making it possible for you to receive a full retirement pension.
While you are receiving benefits through DBP, you have important responsibilities to help manage your claim. Sun Life and UBC expect that you will make reasonable efforts to explore and pursue rehabilitation options where appropriate. Sun Life will request updated medical information on a regular basis and ask that you keep your contact information updated.
Important Note: During your claim, if Sun Life does not receive a requested update from you and/or your physician after several reminders, they may suspend your disability benefit payments.
Pending decision
For some claims, Sun Life may determine that they don’t have enough information to make a decision. In these cases, Sun Life will try to get the additional information they need as efficiently as possible. This might involve an independent medical exam or a separate evaluation of your functional abilities. Sun Life will let you know as soon as they determine that more information is needed. Your Sun Life Disability Case Manager may also need to contact your doctor and/or the Benefits Claims & Administration Associate to ask some further questions or obtain any missing information before a decision may be made.
Please contact your Sun Life Disability Case Manager to understand what additional information may be needed for them to reach a claim decision.
Claim decline
If Sun Life does not approve your claim, they will call you to explain why your claim has been declined, and they will mail you a decline letter outlining their decision. The Benefits Claims & Administration Associate will be notified and provided a copy of the decision letter for your file records. Any confidential medical information will be redacted from the University’s copy of this letter.
If you have already used up your paid sick leave, you will receive a Benefits Task in your Workday inbox to make your elections for On Leave benefit plans (if eligible). You can choose to continue all, some or none of your benefits. You are responsible for paying the full cost (employee plus employer share) for any benefits you choose to continue. Once you submit your benefit elections, a Leave of Absence Desk representative from Payroll will check that your benefits elections are correct and notify you of the monthly cost. The maximum length of time you may maintain your benefits and pension while on an unpaid leave is 24 months.
If you are medically cleared to return to work, you may also wish to consider participating in Workplace Health Services’ Remain at Work/Return to Work Program. For more information on this program, and how it may be beneficial to you, please visit our Working with an injury, illness or disability page.
For other options that may be available to you, please contact UBC Advisory Services. Each Faculty and Unit is assigned to an Advisor and Associate.
Submitting an appeal
If you wish to appeal Sun Life’s decision, please see the instructions on the decision letter from your Sun Life Disability Case Manager. You can only appeal Sun Life’s decision three times. If you submit medical tests/reports separately, Sun Life may consider these to be separate appeals. We therefore recommend that you collect all necessary information to submit a strong appeal.
Useful links
If you have any questions, please contact the Benefits team.
