Process for Applying for California Short Term Disability

The state of California provides short-term benefits for its workers.

Workers in the state of California who do not have access to private or group disability plans can apply to the state disability insurance program. The CDI (State Disability Insurance) program provides payments for temporary periods of time. Workers must meet several medical and financial eligibility requirement set the by program to qualify for coverages.

Applying for Benefits-Eligibility

When workers apply for benefits, they must first certify their medical conditions are disabilities. These medical conditions must not have occurred on their jobs or they are ineligible for disability benefits but can receive payments from workers compensation insurance. Individuals must either miss work or be disabled more than seven days. If individuals need to take time off to take care of their loved ones are also eligible to receive benefits. Workers must have made at least $300 in their base periods as well.

Applying for Benefits-Claim Forms

To receive disability benefits, workers must submit claim forms, which includes general information about the applicants and their medical providers' prognoses of the disabilities and when workers are able to return to their jobs. There are different claim forms if workers are taking time off to take care of relatives and medical providers must certify the disabilities. Claim forms must be submitted by workers between nine to 49 days of becoming disabled; if submitted after this time period, workers must send their explanation via letter of why their claim forms are late or risk not receiving benefits.

Applying for Benefits-Receiving Payments

Disability benefits replace 55 percent of the workers' salaries and are paid out of a maximum of 52 weeks. Workers pay for coverage when taxes are taken out of their paychecks. SDI takes 1.1 percent of their earnings to fund the program up to a maximum of $1,028.62 per year. To determine benefit amounts, the SDI program uses the highest earnings during the workers' base periods. These periods last 12 months and the program take a three-month period (quarter) of the workers' maximum earnings to calculate benefit payments. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) does not consider benefit payments from SDI taxable compensation.

Considerations

There are some workers who are not eligible to receive benefits from SDI. These workers include government workers, interstate railroad employees, non-profit employees, domestic workers and individuals who claim religious exemptions. Also benefit amounts are reduced if workers receive compensation from the following sources: bonuses, commissions, vacation pay, sick pay, workers compensation benefits and military pay. Workers can also work part-time and still receive benefits. However benefits will be reduced dollar for dollar if the combined totals of disability payments and part-time wages exceed their pre-disability earnings. For example, if workers made $1,500 per week before disability and their part-time earnings were $800 per week and their disability benefits are $825 (55 percent of 1,500), their benefits would be decreased by the $125 that exceeds their previous income levels.

References

• DisabilityBenefits101: California State Disability Insurance