Disability_Benefits

Sickness disability benefits pay 50% or 100% of your rate of pay at the time your disability begins—for up to 52 weeks—if you are an eligible employee who becomes totally disabled as the result of a nonjob-related illness or injury (see schedule below).

You are eligible to receive sickness disability benefits after you complete six full months of your term of employment with a AT&T and are absent from work for more than seven consecutive calendar days because of a certified disability due to a nonjob-related illness or injury. Once you are eligible, coverage under the SADB Plan is provided automatically

If you are absent from work for longer than seven consecutive calendar days as a result of a nonjob-related illness or injury, sickness disability benefits begin on the eighth calendar day of your absence. The amount of pay you receive for the first seven days of your absence due to disability depends on your department’s practice or collective bargaining agreement provisions, if applicable. The amount of sickness disability benefits you receive thereafter—full-pay or half-pay—depends on the following:

• Your scheduled hours of work, or your equivalent work week classification under your contract of hiring (not including overtime), and

• Your term of employment plus service recognized under the rules on Recognition of Prior Service, as of your eighth consecutive day of absence.

Term of Employment	Full Pay Up To		Half Pay Up To
6 months to 2 years	---	then	52 weeks
2 to 5 years	4 weeks	then	48 weeks
5 to 15 years	13 weeks	then	39 weeks
15 to 20 years	26 weeks	then	26 weeks
20 to 25 years	39 weeks	then	13 weeks
25 or more years	52 weeks		---

Claims for payment of sickness disability benefits must be made within 60 days of the first day of your absence due to a nonjob-related illness or injury. To qualify, you must:

• Contact your supervisor on the first day of absence to report your disability

• Place yourself under a physician’s care and follow the physician’s recommended treatment

• Furnish information satisfactory to the Company about your disability, including the nature and frequency of your treatment, from the physician who is caring for you (the Company will provide the forms for this information)

• When requested, have a medical examination by a physician designated by the Company and/or provide any relevant information requested by the AT&T Benefit Claim and Appeal Committee, and

• Contact the Health Affairs Organization to obtain written permission, with concurrence from the AT&T Benefit Claim and Appeal Committee and your physician’s approval, if you intend to leave home during your disability. You must also furnish satisfactory proof of disability while absent; otherwise, no benefits will be payable.

If you return to work for a period of less than 13 weeks after receiving sickness disability plan benefits for a medically certified disability absence and then become disabled again, the duration of benefits paid during your previous absence will be counted in determining the amount (full pay or half pay) and duration of benefits for your next period of absence.