A Florida man is suing over denied long-term disability benefits that he says he should have received through an Unum employee benefit plan.

Ioannis B. “was covered under policies of long-term disability insurance and life insurance funded and administered by the Defendant Unum,” says the Unum employee benefit plan lawsuit.

Unum reviews and makes final decisions regarding the approval or denial of claims under the insurance policy.

The lawsuit alleges Unum “has a serious conflict of interest and its decision to deny benefits was influenced by its conflict of interest” because it has duties to shareholders and is a for-profit company under federal law.

Unum is accused of not being consistent in its decisions regarding similar claims, and of not following the “full and fair review” provisions of ERISA.

ERISA is the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, a federal law that sets rules for employee benefit plans. It gives plan participants the right to sue for benefits and any breach of monetary responsibility.

Unum Employee Benefit Plan Included Long-Term Disability

According to the Unum lawsuit, Ioannis “was and is ‘disabled’, as the term was defined in the long-term disability insurance policy funded and administered by Unum at all times material hereto.”

Unum is accused of failing and refusing to pay Ioannis the money due to him through the plan.

In addition, Unum “has subjected the Plaintiff to an unreasonable claims process … and has denied benefits under the terms of the plan.”

Complaints Against Unum Go Back Years

Unum has been accused of denying valid claims or prematurely terminating disability benefits since at least as early as 2002. Unum’s violations were exposed when television program 60 Minutes interviewed Unum employees who said they were rewarded for reaching a claim-denial monthly quota.

One doctor claimed Unum fired him because he refused to assist Unum by denying benefits to injured claimants.

Other doctors have stated they, too, were encouraged to falsify medical records of disabled people to make them appear healthy on paper. That was how Unum allegedly could deny the claims of employees who were under an Unum employee benefit plan.

Over the years, around 3,000 Unum disability benefits lawsuits have been filed and many have been successfully settled with compensation for the plaintiffs.

Reports of claimants who have taken all the proper steps to obtain their benefits but still had them taken away are not uncommon. Even those covered by the FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) have struggled to obtain or maintain disability benefits.

Claimants report of phone interviews every two months to ask about a recovery prognosis when even their own doctors are not certain of when patients will be deemed eligible to resume work in the future.

One woman who underwent two brain surgeries said that her Unum representative has tried from the beginning to stop her Unum disability benefits.

If you or someone you know has been denied a disability claim, had your benefits reduced or terminated early, you could benefit from a class action lawsuit to collect the funds that you have been denied.

The Unum Employee Benefit Plan Lawsuit is Case No. 6:16-cv-2026-Orl-37-TBS in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Orlando Division.