Unum Rubberstamping Puppets

Saturday, April 8th, 2017

I read a blog by a former Unum claim representative that described how Unum claim handlers are glorified secretaries. The truth is that calling Unum claim handlers glorified administrative assistants is an insult to the latter.

I deposed a Unum claim representative who approved, and then 20 months later terminated, my client’s long term disability {“LTD”) benefits. The claim handler testified that my client’s benefits would continue if her condition did not improve, and that he was required to consider all of the evidence that my client had submitted. While my client continued to submit the same evidence that Unum found rendered her disabled, when terminating my client’s benefits, the Unum claim handler admitted that he did not even compare the findings and opinions of Unum’s doctors with those of Plaintiff’s doctors, and the issue of improvement was never even considered.

An administrative assistant may not perform executive or managerial tasks, but they do exercise independent judgment. On the other hand, the Unum claim handler unabashedly testified that he exercised absolutely no independent judgment in his work. The claim handler admitted that he relies exclusively on what Unum’s doctors say, that he simply accepts whatever Unum’s doctors say, and rubberstamps their conclusions.

In other words, Unum completely disregards all the evidence that supports a claimant being disabled, as long as Unum’s doctors say a claimant can work, regardless of what that evidence shows.

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