Blog - ERISA and Disability Rights and Benefits - Alabama - The Martin Law Group, LLC

A client comes to you with a disability claim on a policy from her workplace. Her initial claim was denied by a letter dated March 31, 2022. That letter provided a 180-day deadline to challenge the decision denying the claim. That deadline passed over six months ago. Can a late challenge be submitted? Is there time to do anything to help this poor lady? You have heard it is critical to make a strong claim record, so you are not optimistic. So … as to ERISA-governed disability claims denied before May 11, 2023, there is more time than many insurers and plans have indicated in denial letters. Some get it right and at least paste the technical language above in their letter denying the claim. (Any claimant who can decipher that is well above average!) Regardless, for any claimant denied benefits after March 1, 2020, and until May 11, 2023 … there is still time.

They just might be if they implicate the National Labor Relations Act. The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) recently released a decision on February 21, 2023, finding by a 3 to 1 vote that such clauses violate section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act per se. Previously, such clauses w...

The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 “ 38 U.S.C. §4301 et seq, commonly called USERRA, provides broad protection for service members and private jobs to reclaim their jobs upon return. In fact, generally speaking, the veteran must not be penalized in any way for a...

Dr. Zall was a dentist insured by a long-term disability policy through Standard Insurance Company. As we all know, dentists spend a lot of time bent over, using their arms and hands to look into people's mouths and perform various procedures and examinations. They do this all day, every working ...

Words can intimidate. A Cash Balance Pension Plan sounds both intimidating and boring all at once. But should we be content to ignore confusing or not well-known terms? Not if the matter is critical to our future. Retirement plans are important vehicles for American workers. We need money availab...

Whenever a downturn in financial investments occurs, and it continues for an extended time frame, you can rest assured that pension or retirement plans will be among those experiencing difficulties. When that occurs, pension plans look for ways to save the plan money and protect assets for those ...

Recent changes in the law relating to pregnancy were tucked away in the $1.7 trillion package recently passed and made law. The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act is in the package. It tracks the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and adds protections for pregnant applicants and employees. This app...

The Federal Trade Commission thinks so. Included with this post is a fact sheet documenting the commission's reasons for the proposed rule. What will be the impact of this rule? Will employers more readily shield sensitive information from employees? On the other hand, when an employee is termina...

The Associated Press recently reported, “Two women who lost their jobs at Twitter when billionaire Elon Musk took over are suing the company in federal court, claiming that last month's abrupt mass layoffs disproportionately affected female employees. … Days after the world's richest man bought t...

It has been reported that Twitter “has begun laying off employees under its new owner, Elon Musk,” in a decision that could impact “up to 3,700 people.” Reuters noted that the “federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act requires businesses with 100 or more employees to provi...

Usually, we shy away from doing things to the point of exhaustion. However, in some areas of the law, you have to exhaust all procedural processes, or the merits of your case will not matter. Employment law, including ERISA, is a prime example.  Ms. Moore was a long-time employee of Verizon, goi...

“If You Fail to Plan, You Are Planning to Fail” — Benjamin Franklin.  It may also be true with ERISA cases, especially subrogation and reimbursement claims, that “If you don't have the plan, you have planned to fail.” Sure, you might get lucky, but then you might also win the lottery. Lori Freit...

Alabama Clarke-Figures Equal Pay Act at Ala. Code § 25-1-30 requires that an employer (inclusive of public employers) cannot pay persons performing the same work different rates of pay when they have the same skill, effort, education, experience, responsibility, and performance conditions, Men an...

More than a few times, I have explained the unfairness of discretionary clauses. On the other hand, the benefits of a de novo review are well entrenched in the 11th Circuit law. A recent case, Harris v. The Lincoln National Life Insurance Company, No. 21-13186 (11th Cir. July 29, 2022), affirms a...

If you are sick or have been injured is there a timeline for your improvement? Can you be terminated from your employment for not improving based on the companies expectations? Unum Insurance Company thinks so. Ms. Proctor was a telephone call center supervisor when the vehicle she was driving wa...

I am David Martin with the Martin Law group. We help people with disability policy claims and ERISA claims. This and other videos are posted to help you understand your policy. I post a new term every Thursday. Subscribe to get the Edge in understanding your policy.  Today let's talk about the c...

I am David Martin with the Martin Law Group. We help people with disability policy claims and ERISA claims. This and other videos are posted to help you understand your policy. I post a new policy term every Thursday. Subscribe to get the Edge in understanding your policy. Other Income is a commo...

I am David Martin with the Martin Law group. We help people with disability policies and ERISA claims. I post a new term every Thursday. Subscribe to get the Edge in understanding your policy.  Today let's talk about what it means when the policy says it can require “examination by a doctor of ou...

Today we are going to be discussing What are exclusions? Exclusions are circumstances, situations or certain disabilities which will not result in a payment of benefits. Many common exclusions in disability policies are disabilities that are related to war, armed aggression, service in the Armed ...

I am David Martin with the Martin Law group. We help people with disability policies and ERISA claims. I post a new term every Thursday. Subscribe to get the Edge in understanding your policy. Today we are going to be discussing What are my Pre-disability Earnings or Covered Earnings? These term...

My co-worker cussed me out and my boss did nothing about it. Is that a hostile work environment? It depends on many factors such as what was said, how often it was said, and whether your employer had notice or constructive notice of the conduct. Busby v. City of Orlando, 931 F.2d 764, 785 (11th C...

Mr. Duggan filed a lawsuit when he felt his employer was failing to pay overtime wages, and then for retaliated against him when he complained about it. He worked for Dura-Line, a company that makes pathways or conduits for connections for the telecom industry and the natural gas industry. Mr. Du...

Our firm's attorney David Martin has an article published in the Alabama Association for Justice titled Stand up for Justice, which explores the gross unfairness in ERISA, which deprives thousands of people of lawfully receiving their long-term disability benefits. There is a bill seeking to chan...

Many clients and attorneys alike often think that if they paid for a policy themselves, then it should be a policy governed by state law and not federal law. In other words, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act should not govern the claim. That is not necessarily true, and a recent case pr...

In August 2021, New York City ordered all employees in its public school system to be vaccinated against Covid 19. Then a short while later the city ordered all of its municipal workers to be vaccinated. The vaccines were authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and recommended by the ...