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February 1985, Vol. 108, No. 2

Employee income protection
against short-term disabilities

William J. Wiatroski

The vast majority of workers in medium and large firms are protected against loss of income during temporary absences from work due to nonoccupational sickness or accident. However, degree of protection and duration of coverage vary widely. Short-term disability protection was provided to 94 percent of these employees in 1983 in the form of paid sick leave plans, or sickness and accident insurance benefits, or both.

Data on short-term disability protection are from the 1983 Bureau of Labor Statistics survey of the incidence and characteristics of employee benefits.¹ The survey provides information on the amount of income protection available to employees, but not on the actual usage of this benefit. Data were tabulated for all full-time employees and for three employee groups; professional-administrative, technical-clerical, and production employees. In this article, the first two groups are frequently combined and labeled white-collar workers, in contrast with production or blue-collar workers. Short-term disability protection provided white-collar workers differs considerably from that provided blue-collar workers. Just over 90 percent of the white-collar employees were covered by sick leave plans in 1983, more than double the percentage of blue-collar employees. Conversely, two-thirds of blue-collar employees had sickness and accident insurance plans, compared with only one-third of the white-collar workers. (See table 1.)

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Footnotes

1 The Employee Benefits Survey is conducted annually in private sector establishments in the contiguous United States employing at least 50, 100, or 250 workers, depending on the industry. Industrial coverage includes: mining; construction; manufacturing; transportation, communications, and electric, gas, and sanitary services; wholesale trade; retail trade; finance, insurance, and real estate; and selected services. Findings of the 1983 survey are reported in Employee Benefits in Medium and Large Firms, 1983 Bulletin 2213 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1984). In addition to short-term disability plans, the survey explores the incidence and detailed characteristics of health, life, and long-term disability insurance; private retirement pensions; and a variety of paid time-off items. It also reports on the extent of eligibility for numerous other benefits. For information on the background and conduct of the survey, see Robert Frumkin and William Wiatrowski, "Bureau of Labor Statistics takes a new look at employee benefits," Monthly Labor Review, August 1982, pp. 41-45.

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