Am I Entitled to Long Term Disability Benefits after my Employment Ends?

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  Catherine Shearer
  Partner

You may find yourself in a situation where you have resigned or have been terminated due to an illness or injury only to find out later that you should have applied for disability benefits. 

There are two circumstances where a person can make a claim for benefits after the employment relationship ends. 

The first is during a notice period. If you have been terminated from your employment you will continue to have employment benefits for a specified time frame during your notice period. The notice period is the length of time an employer must give you that employment is terminated. This can be working notice, in which case you would continue to go to work for the duration off the notice period. In the alternative, you can receive payment in lieu of working notice. In this case, you would be given payment for the duration of your notice period. The notice period is highly contextual and thus will be different for everyone. However, during that time you would continue to be able to access your benefits. 

The second circumstance where you can apply for disability benefits after the employment relationship has ended is where the employer knew or ought to have known the employee was suffering from a disability and did not advise them of their ability to apply for benefits. There is one caveat on this; the applicant must still apply to the disability insurer during the specified time period in the policy. 

If the time limit prescribed by the policy has elapsed, all may not be lost however, it becomes a more complicated legal issue beyond the scope of this post. 

For further information on disability benefits please contact Catherine Shearer (@guelph_injury_lawyer) at McKenzie Lake Law Firm LLP, operating in Guelph, Ontario.