IRP Payment Errors Resolved

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The Faculty Association’s Income Replacement Program (IRP) provides partial salary coverage for faculty who are unable to return to the workplace at full time after illness or injury following a six month qualifying period. It is a critical part of the benefits plan provided to our members and the Association strives to ensure that it functions properly and efficiently. In October 2022, Association members advised us that they had not received their September payment from the IRP provider, Sun Life. Our professional staff alerted the University’s Benefits Manager  who immediately contacted Sun Life to address the concern.

We are happy to advise our membership that the problem has been resolved. It is our understanding that all payments have now been made and steps have been taken to avoid a similar administrative error in the future. The problem arose after the University initiated an administrative process change with Sun Life earlier in the year. Sun Life had initially provided additional oversight to ensure that the new process was incorporated into their systems and accurately reported. Unfortunately, after several months, the provider ended its higher oversight, and the reporting for a small group of IRP recipients was not input fully. Sun Life and UBC have now instituted a number of checks and balances to ensure that there are no further payment delays owing to this change of process.

We thank the members who raised this concern with the Association. It is because of their notification that we were able to work with the University to fix the system for all our membership. We encourage anyone who have experienced difficulty with their Income Replacement Plan payments, or other health and wellness benefits to reach out to the Faculty Association so that one of our professional labour relations staff can assist. No one needs to struggle through these sometimes complicated administrative processes alone, especially at a time of illness or injury.  

For more information on the benefits available to you please see: https://www.facultyassociation.ubc.ca/worklife/benefits/. Information specific to the Income Replacement Plan can be found here: https://hr.ubc.ca/benefits/benefit-plan-details/income-replacement-disability-benefits