KXXV-TV News Channel 25 - Central Texas News and Weather for Waco, Temple, Killeen | Copperas Cove Man Confronts Disability Insurance Woes

Copperas Cove Man Confronts Disability Insurance Woes

By Kevin Davis

COPPERAS COVE - Les Smith, an employee in the Texas prison system has been fighting to receive disability insurance for over a year now and could barely contain his frustration when he boiled down his problem to two main themes: bureaucracy, and bad information.

When Smith was rammed by a drunk driver on Christmas Eve, 2006, he was counting on getting the long-term disability insurance he had been paying for twenty years.

As soon as he was out of a coma and able to talk, he asked human resources what to do next. They told him, he had to wait until his vacation time, sick time, and extended time was complete before applying, which totaled over a year and a half.

According to the employee retirement system, which processes his disability application, he had to file his claim within a year of his accident, a fact that smith's HR department didn't mention.

In a memo on behalf of Smith to the ERS, his HR department writes: "...all referenced material indicated that benefits of long term disability were payable upon exhaustion of sick leave ...or 90 days waiting period whichever was greater.

The HR staff members at the Hughes unit were not aware that the employee was required to submit his application for disability within 12 months of the date of injury or illness. Mr. Smith was never informed."

What's even more frustrating for Smith is the inability to get any information from ERS on the matter. Even ERS's own customer service was shocked at how long smith had been waiting.

"I believe the statement was 'dear god, it's been that long?' which I would imagine would definitely not be on the script that would be normal for them to use."

Smith says he hopes his story will help prevent this happening to any of the other 65,000 employees of the texas prison system.

ERS could not be reached for comment.  In a written statement to Smith, ERS says they have 180 days after receiving Smith's appeal to reach a decision, which will be up on October 7th.  It will be twenty-two months after the accident.