Short Term Disability

Effective Date of Benefits: Supplemental Short-Term Disability (STD) provides coverage for up to 52 weeks, following a seven-day unpaid waiting period. To enroll in Supplemental STD, employees must first be enrolled in Voluntary Disability Insurance.

  • To ensure your coverage remains active and you can access benefits when needed, it’s essential to maintain your premium contributions. If you choose to opt out of the Supplemental STD plan and later decide to re-enroll, your years of continued participation will reset. This means you will need to start your contributions anew, and the effective date of your benefits will be recalculated based on your new start date.
  • For complete details, please refer to your Summary Plan Description available on the USC Employee Gateway.

Opting Out and Re-enrollment: If you choose to opt out of the Supplemental STD plan and later decide to re-enroll, your years of continued participation will reset. This means you will need to start your contributions anew, and the effective date of your benefits will be recalculated based on your new start date.

Special Considerations: If you work in a state with state-mandated disability or paid medical leave benefits (“State Benefits”)1, you should carefully consider whether to enroll for this coverage. If you are eligible for State Benefits, you must apply if required by state law. If permitted, your STD benefit will be reduced by State Benefits or other government benefits that apply. Depending on your compensation, the amount of the State Benefit, and other factors, you may only receive the minimum weekly benefit. You should consider, based on your individual circumstances, whether you need additional coverage beyond the State Benefit.

Plan Details

To review your USC Open Enrollment Benefit materials, click here

 

Disability Insurance FAQs

Consider any expenses you may incur in the running of your household, including car payments, mortgage payments, groceries, childcare, tuition and more, that would still need to be covered in the event of a disability.

Enrolling in a plan is not mandatory, but it is a good idea and an affordable way that may help protect your income. Without disability insurance, you may need to use your savings or tap into other assets to cover your essential living expenses while you recover from an accident or illness.

In most cases, payments will be made directly to you. Payment amounts may vary based on coverage selections.

You can file your claim by calling 1-888-247-6228 to speak with a claim intake specialist. You can also track the status of your claim and submit claim updates online via our mobile enabled web portal.

As one of the nation’s leading providers of disability benefits,2 you can count on MetLife to provide you with caring, compassionate and accurate claims service, if and when you experience a disability.

1 These jurisdictions include, but may not be limited to, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Washington (and Delaware and Minnesota as of 1/1/26, Maine as of 5/1/26, and Maryland as of 1/3/28).

2 LIMRA, U.S. Workplace Disability Insurance Sales and In Force Survey, Second Quarter, 2024.

Like most group disability insurance policies, MetLife policies contain certain exclusions, exceptions, waiting periods, reductions, limitations, and terms for keeping them in force. Ask your MetLife group representative for costs and complete details.

These policies provide disability income insurance only. For policies issued in New York, they do NOT provide basic hospital, basic medical, or major medical insurance as defined by the New York State Insurance Department. The expected benefit ratio for these policies is at least 50%. This ratio is the portion of future premiums that MetLife expects to return as benefits when averaged over all people with the applicable policy.

MetLife Group Disability Income Insurance is issued by Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, 200 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10166, under Policy Form GPNP23-2T DI.