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Sports Injury

SHORT TERM DISABILITY

Benefit Summary

PetWow offers eligible staff members participation in PetWow’s robust group short term disability plan through Sun Life Financial. Group short term disability premium rates are substantially lower than can be gained by individuals in the private market due to the group nature of PetWow’s short term disability plan. Petwow's short term disability policy through Assurant protects your income in the case of off the job accident or disability, as well as maternity for between 6 and 8 weeks, which is sufficient to protect you against temporary loss of income due to the many common accidents or injuries where recovery is achieved within a few months. Petwow's short term disability plan will provide up to $1,500.00 per week during your absence from work due to short term disability events. Moreover, any payouts are TAX FREE which means that the total spendable income from disability payments will amount to significantly more than 60% of your pre-disability post-tax income.

 

  • PREMIUM COST

    • The ​premium cost for Short Term Disability insurance varies depending upon your bi-weekly income, since the benefit pays out a percentage of your income. You can estimate your potential Short Term Disability premium costs by using this Simple Premium Estimator Tool

 

For a full explanation and description of PetWow's group short term disability policy click HERE

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Eligibility

  • Basic Eligibility:

    • A Team member must have "Part-Time/Partial-Benefits" employment status, which means having averaged 48 hrs per bi-weekly pay period (24 hrs/week) over the last 6 bi-weekly pay periods (or if newly hired, anticipated to average 24 hrs/week over the next 6 bi-weekly pay periods); or hold a managerial, professional groomer, or veterinarian job title. Calculated hours include regular hours, overtime hours, paid vacation hours, paid holiday hours, paid sick day hours, and paid continuing education hours.​

  • Waiting Period: An eligible team member may initially seek enrollment in this benefit during the period beginning on the 90th days after hire date and ending on the 120th day after hire date. If the team member elects not to seek enrollment during this Initial Enrollment Window, he or she will not be able to enroll until the next annual "Open Enrollment" period which runs from December 1st, through December 31st of each year, with new plans/policies beginning January 1st. In addition to the Initial and Annual Open Enrollment periods, team members may enroll in this benefit during the 30 days following any one of the following "Qualifying Events": marriage, divorce, child birth / adoption, loss of prior coverage or change in employment status, (ex. going from Part Time to Full Time). 

  • Please Note: PetWow human resources will not automatically notify an eligible team member that they have reached their 90th day of employment (although the team member can easily keep abreast of when this initial period will begin by looking at their "Benefits" tab in their "MY INFO" section of BambooHR). Therefore, it is the eligible team member's responsibility to actively seek enrollment in this benefit during the initial enrollment window if he or she wishes to do so. PetWow human resources will, however, notify all eligible team members about the December annual Open Enrollment on or near the beginning of November each year. 

To verify current eligibility, please refer to the "Benefits Tab" within your "MY INFO section of  BambooHR.

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Enrollment

Use PetWow's Human Resource's BENEFITS FORM to request enrollment in PetWow's Group Short Term Disability plan. Once your eligibility is confirmed, PetWow Human Resources will send you the relevant application form(s) through BambooHR for completion and signature.

Once your eligibility has been confirmed, your application will be submitted to Sun Life Financial in order to obtain a formal rate quote, enabling you to make a final decision about plan participation.  

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Ongoing Plan Management

CUSTOMER SERVICE

  • If you have questions which you would like to discuss via phone about your Sun Life Financial policy or claims please call Crawford Insurance at 859-581-2088 or contact the Sun Life Financial directly at 1-800-733-7879. 

 

ONLINE ACCOUNT & CLAIMS MANAGEMENT

  • Utilize Sun Life Financial's Online Advantage Program

    • With Online Advantage you can view your benefit information online at your convenience. It's an e-service solution that we offer to plan members to find information about your benefits with the click of a mouse! At any time you can login to view information about your benefits. For plan members you can:

      • View eligibility

      • View claims status

      • Change facility (for prepaid members)

      • Request ID card

      • Dental cost estimator

      • Search for a network dentist

      • Contact customer service

    • To register for Online Advantage, click HERE.

 

MOBILE APP

  • Sun Life Financial also provides a free app which you can download to your SmartPhone to manage your disability plan on the go. Click HERE for more details.

OTHER PLAN MANAGEMENT ISSUES

  • For all other short term disability plan management questions please email PetWow Human Resources

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