Unum is the largest disability insurance company in the country. It’s been alleged in many bad faith insurance lawsuits that in an effort to boost their bottom line, the company unjustly denies and/or terminate thousands of valid disability insurance claims.

That’s the allegation raised in a new Unum lawsuit filed by plaintiff S. Zucker. For 40 years, Zucker worked with customer relationship/collection call centers (CRMs). While serving as an executive for his work and traveling extensively, Zucker began suffering back and neck pain. Over time his condition worsened, and “he began suffering extreme pain and limited movement in his back and neck that radiated down his arm to his fingers,” his Unum lawsuit claims. This eventually became numbness in his arms and hands.

Because he couldn’t sit for long periods or lift luggage, Zucker could no longer travel to visit clients and vendors. With an inability to perform job duties, Zucker stopped working in October 2010. Once successful and a six-figure earner, his disability forced him to forgo earning any income since 2010, according to the Unum insurance lawsuit.

Zucker had a disability insurance policy with Unum to provide certain benefits if he became “totally disabled” or “residually disabled.” He made his policy payments on time and consistently, his lawsuit claims. However, when he became disabled due to health issues he suffered, Unum allegedly denied his claim.

Unum’s policy defines “residually disabled” as “experiencing at least 20% loss of net income in your regular occupation; and…you are receiving medical care from a physician other than yourself which is appropriate for the injury or sickness.” Under this definition, Zucker is “residually disabled,” his insurance lawyer claims in the lawsuit.

Zucker claims that Unum breached their policy by failing to provide him with the disability insurance benefits contracted, and as such he suffered damages. He is suing Unum for the benefits owed him.

The Unum insurance denial lawsuit is Sheldon Zucker v. Unum Life Insurance Company, Case No. 1:14-2873-TLW, in the United States District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Unum – A Disability Insurance Empire

Disability insurance exists to protect individuals’ livelihood in a situation where injury or illness affects ability to work. It is either offered through their employer, or paid for by the individual. And it is important to have. According to estimates from Disabilityinsurance.org, “One out of every 4 persons in the U.S. workforce will suffer a disabling injury before retirement.”

The top disability insurer in the U.S. and the UK is Unum Life Insurance Company of America. A Fortune 500 company based in Tennessee, it has annual revenues of over $10 billion and close to 15 million subscribers. Until a name change in 2007, it was known as UnumProvident.

Everyone knows that they can expect financial hardship if they were to become unable to work, but not everyone knows that disability insurance is there to help.

In 2012 and 2013, Unum partnered with the Consumer Federation of America to examine to use of disability insurance by American workers. Reports of their findings showed that workers are lacking education about disability insurance. Moreover, Bureau of Labor Statistics cited in the report estimated that two-thirds of American workers don’t have disability insurance policies.

The irony is that for the one-third that do have disability insurance also have policies under Unum or a Unum subsidiary. Unum and its subsidiaries have been the subject of many bad faith insurance lawsuits over the past two decades. Victims of these insurance bad faith lawsuits allege that Unum systematically denied thousands of policy holders their disability insurance.