Former Unum Employee Reveals Shady Inner Workings

There have been a few revelations from former Unum employees about just how underhanded the company was in its approval process of disability insurance claims — but few have spoken up like Linda Nee did to “Dateline NBC.”

Nee was transferred to the Unum claims department from an arm of the company that didn’t handle claims, and at first she thought nothing of it. She guessed that it would be her job to provide customer service and process claims in a timely manner. However, after a 60-day training period, her manager told her that she was supposed to deny $270,000 in financial reserves as well as $27,000 in disability claim settlements *every month*. If she didn’t, she’d be out of a job.

Nee quickly saw that it wasn’t her job to process claims — it was her job to deny them. During Nee’s career at Unum, which spanned from 1994-2002, she “moved up” to work directly for the VP of Compensation. Her high level allowed her access to stock-related details, including her last six years as a Claims Handler. She was fired in 2002 after Unum pegged her as a whistleblower and one of the main figures that “Dateline NBC” leaned on to expose the inner workings of Unum. On paper, however, she was fired for poor performance — even after she received promotions and pay raises (one a month before being fired).

Nee isn’t concerned about her termination, since she says she would have fired herself, too. She freely admits to speaking up about the Unum unfair practices.

Bloomberg reported in 2003 that Nee wasn’t the only one who saw Unum’s exacerbated claims process going south. Unum’s “scrub months,” which happened at the end of each quarter, got ruthless with managers looking to deny any Unum disability claim possible in order to stick to the budget. Unum denies it denied disability payouts solely for financial concerns, and has never swayed from their statement that Nee had poor performance. However, it wasn’t her intention to get fired. Nee says that she hoped if she brought everything to light, management would take notice and change things.

Prior to Nee’s formal termination, she was put on probation, which she says was Unum’s way of warning her to keep quiet. She’s also unsure whether or not she would have been fired if it weren’t for “paranoia” caused by the upcoming “Dateline” that expose was getting ready to air. Unum has no proof of who the whistleblowers were, and there are certainly more than just Nee. She claims that it doesn’t matter she made millions for the company, because they couldn’t afford her potentially exposing Unum for what it is.

The Details of the Unum Claim Denial Process

Nee was mostly in charge of upping Unum’s “financial reserves,” which develops when someone applies for a disability claim. By law, Unum and any other insurance company is required to put aside a set amount of money in preparation for these claims. These reserves become a loss for the company. However, if a claim is denied, there’s an immediate profit. Nee likens it to a game, with policy holders as the pawns, and it’s actually pretty easy to show a profit as long as the denials keep pouring in.

According to Nee, Unum is all about the financial reserves. When she was fired, there were no SOPs that required a claims handler to actually speak with policy holders. She recalls some agents calling patients in hospital rooms immediately after they got out of surgery. She also says that Unum is good about training people to look for the biggest financial impacts — it’s easier to deny bigger claims than a bunch of smaller claims.

Where Unum is very structured is in the claims denial department, which may explain why of the many Unum horror stories out there, most of them are very large claims. Nee says that claim handlers are well trained in identifying the highest claims, which will in turn lead to the largest financial reserves. Although she hasn’t worked for Unum in many years, she suspects that similar practices are still underway. She does give credit to Unum for one thing: Their internal processes are solid enough that they make everything look legitimate.

Were You Unfairly Denied a Unum Claim?

If you think you’ve been wrongfully denied disability insurance from Unum, you might qualify for a free attorney consultation. Find out more by visiting the Unum/UnumProvident Disability Insurance Claim Denial Class Action Lawsuit Investigation today.