Mechanical Engineer Says Her Unum Long Term Disability Coverage Was Wrongly Terminated

A mechanical engineer says that her Unum long term disability benefits were wrongly terminated.

Plaintiff Lauren E. says that she worked as a mechanical engineer for Northrop Grumman Corporation for six years. She says that she has lived with orthostatic hypertension all her life, and during the course of her employment at Northrop, her condition because severe enough that it prevented her from working.

Lauren says she had disability insurance coverage through her work, provided by Unum Life Insurance Company of America. In 2012, she alleges, she was hospitalized with a severe case of pneumonia, and after she recovered from pneumonia, her orthostatic hypertension worsened considerably. She says that at that point, she was diagnosed with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome.

Lauren’s Unum long term disability benefits lawsuit says that this condition is “an incurable and debilitating disorder that affects a person’s heart rate with postural changes leading to fainting, fatigue, headaches, lightheadedness, heart palpitations, exercise intolerance, nausea, diminished concentration, shaking, chest pain, and shortness of breath.”

According to the Unum benefits lawsuit, Lauren attempted to work with the condition, but was forced to take medical leave in May 2012 because of her disability.

After Lauren filed her claim for disability insurance benefits, she says that Unum found her disabled from her occupation as a mechanical engineer on Dec. 9, 2012, and paid her benefits for two years until the company found her to be disabled from any occupation because of her disability as of March 7, 2014.

Allegedly, Lauren attempted to return to work part time, and in November 2014, attempted to work full time again. However, she says that she was unsuccessful because her condition prohibited her from working, at which point she reapplied for and received long term disability benefits from Unum. Unum then found her disabled as to her own occupation on Jan. 11, 2016.

The Unum long term disability benefits lawsuit states that despite her ongoing and incurable disability, Unum then terminated Lauren’s benefits on May 31, 2017. Allegedly, the company then claimed that the records about Lauren’s health did not show that she was unable to perform her work as a mechanical engineer.

To support her claims that she did still qualify for disability benefits, the Unum long term disability benefits lawsuit cites numerous examples of her physicians confirming that she is disabled and unable to perform the duties of a mechanical engineer.

Lauren says that she appealed Unum’s denial, but Unum upheld its decision on May 25, 2018. Lauren claims that Unum wrongly terminated her benefits for its own interests, and she seeks for her benefits to be restored.

Unum made headlines in 2002 over similar allegations, when 60 Minutes reported that Unum may have wrongly denied disability benefits to people who were qualified. 

The Unum Long Term Disability Benefits Lawsuit is Case No. 3:19-cv-00263-JCH, in the U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut.