Minnesota Federal Court Rules Unum was Wrong to Terminate Long-term Disability (“LTD”) benefits of Woman Whose Cognitive Impairments Prevented her from Working as an Attorney.
Background
In 2018, Ms. Ann Wessberg was diagnosed with breast cancer. At the time, she was working as a shareholder attorney. As part of her cancer treatment, she underwent chemotherapy, then radiation, a double mastectomy, and a double breast reconstruction. She was unable to continue working due to the breast cancer and treatment. Unum approved long-term disability benefits.
All the while, Ms. Wessberg was experiencing anxiety, fatigue, depression, difficulty concentrating, decreased stamina, and increasingly incoherent thoughts. She was treating with many different providers including an oncologist, primary care physician, psychiatrist, and mental health therapist.
Ms. Wessberg returned to work on a part-time (or less) basis. However, even working at such a reduced rate, she still struggled with the cognitive demands of her job. She informed Unum that her disability was now based on cognitive impairment or “chemo brain.”
Eventually, Unum terminated her benefits after determining she was able to work on a full-time basis. She appealed the termination and provided more medical records and evidence that she was unable to work due to the cognitive difficulties. She also disputed the job description Unum used, arguing it failed to include the specific cognitive demands of an attorney.
Nonetheless, Unum denied the appeal, and Ms. Wessberg filed a lawsuit.
The Court’s Analysis and Ruling
The court’s analysis was thorough and complete. It observed that although Ms. Wessberg told Unum that her disability at the time of termination was cognitive impairment that prevented her from working as an attorney, Unum made determinations based on her ability to do physical sedentary work. Furthermore, Unum omitted the cognitive requirements of her occupation when reviewing her claim.
Although it did include generic cognitive requirements such as “directing people” and “making judgments,” it did not include specific requirements to the job of an attorney. In short, it entirely ignored the cognitive requirements that were essential to both her job and her disability.
Ultimately, the court held Ms. Wessberg proved she was disabled and Unum’s termination was wrong.
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