Home < Health and Welfare Benefits < Disability Insurance < Choosing a Waiting Period
A disability waiting period is the time from the first day you are unable to work due to pregnancy or a disabling injury or illness until the day disability benefits start. If you have Short-Term Disability only, the waiting period is seven calendar days. If you enroll in Supplemental Disability, you may elect a 7-, 30-, 90-, or 180-day waiting period, which will apply to both your Short-Term and Supplemental Disability benefits. The longer the waiting period, the lower the premiums you pay.
No matter which waiting period you have, UC's Short-term and Supplemental Disability Plans require that you use up to 22 days of accrued sick leave (if available) before benefits can begin. For example, if you have Short-Term Disability only and you have 15 days of accrued sick leave, you must use all 15 days before benefits will be paid, even though the waiting period is only seven days.
Likewise, if you have Supplemental Disability with a 30-day waiting period and 15 days of accrued sick leave, you must use all 15 days of accrued sick leave and then take 7 days without pay before your disability benefit will be paid. Or, you can choose to use vacation days, if available, for some or all of the seven days. If you don't have any accrued sick leave or vacation, you would have to wait 30 days (without pay) before disability benefits could begin.
To determine the right waiting period for you, you will want to consider your circumstances. For example, if you have accrued a large number of sick days, you may want to elect a longer waiting period to reduce your monthly premium. On the other hand, if you are hoping to have a baby, you may want to consider a shorter waiting period. Since the disability period for a normal pregnancy and childbirth is usually only 8 weeks, if you have a 90-day waiting period, you would receive no benefit during your disability period.
You can elect a longer waiting period at any time, but a statement of health and approval of the insurance company is required to change to a shorter waiting period.
