Short Term Disability

Offices and Services

Davidson College provides income assistance to full-time employees who must be absent for an extended period of time due to bona fide sickness or injury.

Eligibility

Employees in regular, full-time positions are eligible for this benefit after one year of continuous employment.

Policy Details

Short Term Disability (STD) leave may be requested for the following:

Personal illness
Recuperation from surgery
Recuperation from birth of a child (pregnancy)
Personal injury not covered by Worker's Compensation

Eligible employees receive 75% of last base salary after the waiting period. The waiting period for hourly (non-exempt) employees is 45 days and the waiting period for salaried (exempt) employees is 45 days.

Employees must use accrued sick or vacation leave until the end of the waiting period for STD compensation. Employees lacking enough sick and/or vacation leave to cover this period will be on leave without pay. An employee may choose to supplement the STD compensation with accrued leave. The leave supplement may not be used to allow the employee to exceed his or her normal salary amount.

If a holiday occurs while an employee is on an approved STD leave, the employee will receive holiday pay during the waiting period for STD compensation. Following the waiting period, the employee will receive STD compensation but will not receive full holiday pay. Employees receiving STD compensation during a work stoppage will continue to receive the payments.

STD leave may not exceed 180 consecutive days. If the employee fails to return on the previously agreed-upon date, the college shall assume that the employee has resigned effective immediately and the employee shall forego rights to payment for accrued vacation days.

After an employee has been on short-term disability and returned to work full-time for one year, that employee is again eligible to receive short-term disability benefits. Employees that take less than the full 180 days of STD can have leave for the balance of the 180 days.

To File a Claim

To file a claim or request leave, please call 877-367-7781 between 8 a.m.-11 p.m. Please have ready:

Company Name: Davidson College
Davidson Control number #52073
Your college ID number (your employee 800 number)
Nature of the claim
First day absent
Work schedule
Date you expect to return to work
Treating doctor's name, address, phone and fax numbers
If caring for a qualified family member, their relation to you

Or, go online to report your absence or disability. Log in to prudential.com/mybenefits. Click on "Report Time out of Work" and follow the instructions. You can input your information and download any forms you may need.

Faculty

Eligibility

Faculty members in regular, full-time faculty positions are eligible for this benefit after one year of continuous employment. After a faculty member has been on short-term disability and returned to work full-time for one year, that employee is again eligible to receive short-term disability benefits.

Short-term disability leave may be requested for the following:

Personal illness
Recuperation from surgery
Recuperation from birth of a child (pregnancy)
Personal injury not covered by Worker's Compensation

Tenured faculty members are eligible to receive 100% of their base salary while on short-term disability leave. Non-tenured faculty members are eligible to receive up to 75% of their base salary while on short-term disability leave. Since they do not accrue vacation and sick time, faculty members are not required to fulfill a waiting period before short-term disability begins. The short-term disability benefit provided by the college will end when the faculty member returns to duty, when the faculty member becomes eligible for long-term disability coverage, or after six months, whichever comes first. Employees with F-5 status are covered under this policy in the same way as tenured full-time members of the faculty.

Short-term disability leave may not exceed 180 days. When a faculty member is allowed to teach a reduced schedule, in keeping with paragraph D in section 2.4.1 of the Faculty Handbook without a reduction in pay, the amount of time not worked will be counted as part of the short-term disability leave and any subsequent leave allowance will be reduced by the time already paid but not worked. A full time faculty member is scheduled to teach 5 courses per year. A reduction of one class in a semester would result in a subsequent reduction of short-time disability leave by one-fifth.

Family Medical Leave will run concurrent with short-term disability coverage. If the faculty member fails to return on an agreed-upon date, the college shall assume that the faculty member has resigned effective on the date the faculty member was expected to return to work. If a faculty member is unable to return to work at the end of the short-term disability leave, the faculty member's employment with the college will end.

Process

To request short-term disability benefits, the faculty member should submit a Family Medical Leave request, which consists of a form completed by the employee and a form completed by the employee's doctor. The request must fully outline the employee's medical condition; clearly specify that the employee is unable to work; and include an estimated return to work date. The college reserves the right to question the documentation presented, to request a second opinion from a doctor designated and paid by the college, and to require periodic certification of continuing disability.

In addition, the faculty member should inform his or her chair about the leave in as timely a manner as possible so the chair can make necessary arrangements for someone to take over teaching and other duties. However, the faculty member is under no obligation to share any private medical information with the chair or anyone else, except for information included on the Family Medical Leave request submitted to HR. All private medical information submitted on that request form will be kept confidential within the HR Department.

Period of Extended Affiliation

A tenured faculty member may request to maintain his or her affiliation (rank and tenure status) with the college for a period of an additional 12 months after the end of the short-term disability leave. Such a request must be made prior to the end of the short-term disability leave. During such an extension of affiliation the tenured faculty member will receive no salary and no benefits from the college. If the tenured faculty member is unable to return to employment at the end of the extension of affiliation, the tenured faculty member's right to return to employment with the college will end.

Before the 12-month extended affiliation period ends, the tenured faculty member shall inform the college if he or she is able to return to employment at the college by providing medical certification of fitness to perform the essential functions of the job. Because of the difficulty of adjusting teaching assignments during the academic year, the tenured faculty member may not return to employment until the beginning of the academic semester following the end of the 12-month extended affiliation period. In exceptional circumstances and when in the best interest of the college, the college may, immediately prior to the beginning of an academic semester, waive the requirement that the tenured faculty member's extended affiliation period continue for a full 12 months and permit the tenured faculty member to return to employment immediately. Whether or not a tenured faculty member receives long-term disability benefits during the period of extended affiliation does not affect the affiliation or the tenured faculty member's right to return to employment at the end of the period.

During the period of an extended affiliation, the college will make every reasonable effort to have a visiting faculty member or adjunct faculty member cover all or a portion of the number of courses that would have been taught by the tenured faculty member. Unless granted a discretionary exemption by the Dean of Faculty, the members of the tenured faculty member's department shall cover the number of courses that would have been taught by the tenured faculty member that are not otherwise covered by a visiting or adjunct faculty member.

Questions regarding this policy should be directed to Human Resources at 704-894-2213.

Revised 8/1/2022