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Temporary Disability
Insurance (TDI) programs are designed to provide wage replacement for
non-work-connected sickness or injury. The TDI program complements the program
by providing benefits to individuals who do not meet the program's "able” to
work requirement. Although Federal law does not provide for a Federal-State TDI
system, the SSA and the FUTA both authorize the withdrawal of employee
contributions from a State's unemployment fund for the payment of TDI.
Six states operate TDI programs. In
California, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and Rhode Island, the TDI programs are
administered by the State employment security agency. The Hawaii law is
administered by the Temporary Disability Income Division of the Department of
Labor and Industrial Relations, and the New York law is administered by the
worker's compensation board.
California, Puerto Rico and Rhode
Island provide one program of benefits without regard to whether workers are
employed, unemployed, or in no covered employment when their disability begins.
Hawaii, New Jersey and New York provide two separate disability benefits
programs, one for individuals who suffer disability while employed or shortly
thereafter, and another for those who become disabled while unemployed. The New
Jersey program for disability during unemployment also cover workers with base
period wages in covered employment whose disabilities begin while they are in no
covered employment.
Definition Of Disability
The scope of the program depends in part on the type of disabilities which are
compensable. The intent of the laws is to compensate for non-work-connected
sickness or injury. This purpose is achieved through the definition of
disability or through other eligibility conditions. In general, the laws define
disability in terms of the inability of an individual to perform the regular or
customary work because of the individual's physical or mental condition.
California also specifically includes individuals suspected of being infected
with a communicable disease, acute alcoholics, and drug addicts undergoing
treatment. The Puerto Rico law and two of the special systems for the disabled
unemployed, in New Jersey and New York, contain more strict requirements with
respect to disability during unemployment. The New Jersey law provides that the
claimant must be unable to perform any work for remuneration. The New York and
Puerto Rico laws provide that the claimant must be unable to perform any work
for which the worker is reasonably qualified by training and experience.
Types Of Disability Excluded
Hawaii, New Jersey, New York, and Puerto Rico have provisions for excluding
payments for disability caused by willful, intentional, self-inflicted injuries,
or acquired in the perpetration of an illegal act. New York also excludes
disabilities resulting from an act of war after June 30, 1950, or caused by an
automobile. California and Puerto Rico prohibit payments for any period of
confinement in an institution as a drug addict, dipsomaniac, or sexual
psychopath. California also prohibits payment due to incarceration. Puerto Rico
benefits are not payable for disability caused by or in relation to abortion in
cases performed for medical reasons or in cases where complications have arisen
due to abortion. |
