Office of Human Resources

Once you have determined that you need to take a leave of absence - be it to care for your own medical needs or those of a family member - the first thing you should do is follow the normal Brandeis University absence reporting procedures and inform your Department Chair Manager or Supervisor. Once you have done so, you must contact The Standard to begin the process of reporting your leave:

1. Contact The Standard's Absence Management Service Center:

• By phone: Call 1-866-756-8116 (Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. - 8 p.m. Eastern Time).
• Online: Please visit www.standard.com/absence.
  • (Note: First-time users will need to create an account. The Standard's website has a step-by-step guide (PDF) on how to do this).

2. Complete a brief 7-to-10-minute phone call or online session:

• You will be asked to provide the following information:
  • Your employer (Brandeis University), employee ID number and group policy number (759559)
  • Your last day at work
  • The reason you are requesting leave
• The Standard will:
  • Record your upcoming absence and set up all applicable leaves for you (including federal, state and short-term disability, if applicable)
  • Send you all paperwork
  • Answer general questions you may have about your claim and inform you about next steps

Please ask to have your leave packet sent to your personal email address. Packets are sent via USPS, but email will be quicker. After this intake session is complete, you will be able to view your leave information and application status on The Standard’s website.

3. Once you have received your paperwork, complete and submit all documents to The Standard within 15 calendar days (45 days if you are applying for disability). You may fax completed forms to 1-866-751-5174 or mail them to:

Standard Insurance Co.
Employee Benefits Division
P.O. Box 3877
Portland, OR 97208

4. For a medical leave, be sure to also sign the authorization form allowing The Standard to speak with your physician’s office to obtain the medical information needed to inform your claim decision. Without this authorization, The Standard is not able to work with your doctor on your behalf.

Employees may contact The Standard in three different ways:

• Live Intake (1-866-756-8116)
  • The Standard has a dedicated Absence Intake team available weekday between 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET.
    • Your organization will have a custom phone number with a personalized greeting
    • Two intake locations -  Portland, OR / Alta Vista, VA
    • Spanish speaking agents and interpreter services are available
• IVR (1-866-756-8116)
  • Employees with existing leaves can call The Standard's Intelligent Voice Recognition system 24/7 to:
    • Add more time to an existing leave
    • Check claim Status
    • Request s call-back
• Web Intake 
  • Employees have 24-hour access to our mobile-optimized Absence Portal
    • Initiate a leave of absence
    • Check leave of balances
    • Check the status of a leave
    • Add more time to an existing leave

Once you have completed the process above to request your leave and it has been approved, The Standard will regularly communicate with Brandeis’ HR and Finance Departments to seamlessly manage your leave on your behalf. All that you will need to do is notify your Department Chair Manager or Supervisor.

Once your leave begins, you will have one single point of contact - called an Absence Coordinator - who will handle your leave and short-term disability claim, if applicable. You’ll be able to contact your Absence Coordinator for any questions, concerns, or issues you may have along the way. For medical leaves, The Standard will continue to make decisions about the status of your leave based on medical information received from you and your doctor.

1. Contact: Call The Standard or go online to request a leave of absence or disability
2. Complete: Return all required paperwork to The Standard by the deadline* (15 days for FMLA, 45 days for disability).
3. Communicate: Communicate return to work status to The Standard and the employer throughout the life of claim

Employees should also: 

• Follow all department or employee-specific absence reporting procedures sush as notifying the supervisor in addition to notifying The Standard - required to notify The Standard within 30 calendar days of needing time off.
• Report any intermittent absences in a timely manner
• Submit all necessary claim/leave paperwork - including medical** - in a timely manner.

*There may be instances where the FMLA will be approved and the disability will remain pending. In these cases, more medical information may be necessary to make a decision on the STD than is required for FMLA.
**For integrated STD claims, The Standard will reach out to the physician's office, but it is ultimately the employee's responsibility to ensure that we receive all information required to make a decision. 

Your absence coordinator can be reached:

• By phone: 866-756-8116
• By email: absence@standard.com
• Online: https://www.standard.com/absence

Be sure to regularly log into The Standard’s portal to review the status of your leave claim, request an extension to your leave, report your return to work, and more.

If You Are on a Medical Leave

Once you have received clearance from your doctor to return to work, an anticipated return date will be established. The Standard will notify you about this date 14 days prior to your anticipated return.

One week before your return date, please have your health care provider sign the Return-to-Work Authorization form provided to you by The Standard. Then, provide a copy of this completed form to:

• The Standard 866-751-5174 (fax) 
• Brandeis University 781-736-4466 (fax)

Note: The requirement above is only applicable if you are returning from a continuous or reduced schedule leave, not an intermittent leave.

If you need a copy of your job description, please contact Renee Relerford by email at reneerelerford@brandeis.edu or by phone at 1-781-736-4451.

You must also submit a signed return-to-work form to the Brandeis HR Department 2 days prior to your return. Once you have successfully returned to work, you will receive a closure letter in the mail.

If You Are on Family Leave

Be sure to contact your manager and The Standard in the week before your leave ends to notify them that you will be returning to work. They will inform you of any next steps that you must take.

When you miss time associated with an intermittent leave, you can quickly and easily report absences through The Standard’s self-service phone system or the absence management self-service portal. These services are available anytime.

• By phone: Call 1-866-756-8116. When prompted, say "Report an absence."
• Via self-service portal: From your computer, smartphone or tablet, log in at standard.com/absence.

• Your leave number (you can find this on the correspondence you received after your intermittent leave was approved)
• Your date of birth
• The date of the absence (note: you may report multiple absences during one call. Dates can be today, in the past, or in the future. However, each absence will be a separate entry during the same call).
• The type of absence (note: you’ll need to let the system know if your absence relates to your condition or is to attend a medical appointment).
• The number of hours you were scheduled to work, and the number of hours of leave taken for each day you’re reporting
• A phone number in case you need to be contacted for further information

Once the automated intake is complete, you’ll receive a confirmation number to let you know that your absence report has been successfully submitted. The Standard will verify your reported absences against your medical certification (if applicable) and email Brandeis’ HR team with the decision for each instance.

Please note that the waiting period (also known as an elimination period) for intermittent leave is seven consecutive calendar days, beginning with the first day of your intermittent leave, and not the aggregate accumulation of seven days leave.