Total Absence Management (TAM) eBusiness

MetLink Customer User Guide

Table of Contents

OVERVIEW 3

METLINK AVAILABILITY 3

METLINK HOME PAGE 4

OTHER LINKS AND FEATURES ACCESSIBLE FROM THE METLINK HOME PAGE 4 DISABILITY EMAIL NOTIFICATIONS 5

TOTAL ABSENCE MANAGEMENT (TAM) 7

HR HOME PAGE 8

YOUR TOTAL ABSENCE MANAGEMENT HOME PAGE QUICK LINKS 8 REQUESTS AWAITING MY REVIEW 10 UPCOMING RTW THROUGH MM/DD/YYYY 11 CURRENT ABSENCES 12 CUSTOMIZE HR HOMEPAGE 13 EMPLOYEE ABSENCE DETAIL PAGE 14 EMPLOYEE ABSENCE HISTORY PAGE 15 MESSAGE/ATTACHMENTS 17

REPORT NEW ABSENCE 18

SELECT TYPE OF ABSENCE 19 ABSENCE SUBMISSION QUESTIONS 19 ABSENCE SUMMARY REVIEW 21 ABSENCE SUMMARY CONFIRMATION PAGE 22 EMPLOYEE SUMMARY 23 EMPLOYEE INFORMATION 24 LEAVE BALANCE AS OF MM/DD/YYYY 26 REQUESTS AWAITING MY REVIEW 27 SCHEDULED ABSENCES 27 ABSENCE HISTORY 28 DISABILITY CLAIMS 28 INTERMITTENT PERIODS 29

ABSENCE INQUIRY 30

ABSENCE INQUIRY FILTERS 31

DAILY STATUS VIEW 32

GLOSSARY 33

CLAIM STATUS DEFINED 33

OVERVIEW Administering a Total Absence Management (TAM) program can be complex. MetLink is an online tool that allows employers to administer and strategically manage their MetLife disability benefits and leave policies. Note: Not all features in this User Guide will actually be available to all customers

MetLink Availability The Disability information within the TAM feature is available to our customers during the following hours:

Disability Information Availability:

Days Hours (Eastern Time)

Monday – Friday 6:30 AM to 10:00 PM

Saturday 6:30 AM to 9:00 PM

Sunday 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM

Note: Absence information within the TAM feature is available 24 Hours a day 7 days a week.

MetLink Technical Support

1-877-9METWEB

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METLINK HOME PAGE Your Total Absence Management (TAM) can be accessed from the MetLink Home Page in two ways.

1. From the Absences tab on the top navigation bar. 2. From the “Your Quick Links” features assigned to you by MetLife.

Other Links and Features Accessible from the MetLink Home Page

“Help”: Tips on Access, User Name/Passwords, Security, Hardware/Software Compatibility, Live Customer Support and other general information.

“Contact Us”: Will allow you to send a message to a web customer service representative. This should not be used for claim related questions.

“Profile”: Will allow you to manage your own password and contact information as well as subscribe to Email Notifications.

“Sign Out”: This is the most secure way to exit MetLink. For security reasons, you will automatically be signed off after 30 minutes of inactivity.

The following is the legal control number for the Group Life website:

© 2002-2014 Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, New York, NY. All Rights Reserved. L1013347552[exp0115][All States][DC,GU,MP,PR,VI]

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Disability Email Notifications Customers may elect to sign up for automatic email notifications when a claim(s) within their security access has had a major change in status (new submission, new approval, new denial, new closure or a Return to Work [RTW] update).

• Emails are sent at the end of each business day • One e-mail will be sent to the user to direct them to the Check a Claim feature in MetLink • The email does not indicate the employee’s name, claim number or any other detail • Users have the option to subscribe or unsubscribe for the email alter

To subscribe to the email alerts, click on the “Profile Button” above the top navigation bar and then edit the email subscription notification data below the user profile details.

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TOTAL ABSENCE MANAGEMENT (TAM) From the MetLink Home Page, click on Total Absence Management as shown in the below example to be directed to the HR Home page

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HR HOME PAGE The HR Home Page displays user directed information. The user will see a listing of Current Absences, Absence History, Disability Claims and their Time Remaining/Balance.

Your Total Absence Management Home Page Quick Links The Your TAM home page also contains several Quick Link features at the top of the page:

• HR Home – Dashboard of all Requests Awaiting Review, Upcoming RTW and Current Absences.

• Report New Absence – Series of questions regarding types of requested absences followed by submission of the request.

• Employee Summary – Dashboard of specific employee’s absence history, including pending requests.

• Absence Inquiry – This page serves as online inquiry page and is where most of the online views will be retrieved and displayed. This is the calendar view of all absences.

• Daily Status View – Contains a daily report of all the specified absence activities by absence type for the last 30 days.

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HR Home Page

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Requests Awaiting My Review This section contains absences that employees are requesting that need approval. MetLife has already verified all of your company’s leave policies and ensured that the employee has met the eligibility criteria for taking leave and has time available. You simply have to verify that scheduling and business conditions allow this person to be away from work for the time requested.

Once the leave information has been verified, click on the “Action” drop down list and select to “Approve” or “Deny” the leave.

After selecting the appropriate action, click the Submit button to complete the decision.

Note:

• You can click on the employee name and be directed to the Employee Summary page to view this employee’s Absence History and other pertinent absence information.

• The calendar icon can also be clicked so that the manager can verify if any other direct reports will be out during the same period.

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Upcoming RTW Through mm/dd/yyyy This section provides information regarding any of employees that are Returning to Work (RTW) within the next 14 days. The period can be adjusted by modifying the “End Date” and clicking the Search button.

Note: You can click on the employee name and be directed to the Employee Summary page to view this employee’s Absence History and other pertinent absence information.

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Current Absences This section provides information regarding any of the Employee’s absences that are within the next 14 days. The period may be adjusted by changing the “End Date” and clicking the “search” button.

Note: When an Absence number is selected, the user will be redirected to the Absence Detail Page.

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Customize HR Homepage The Customize HR Homepage link provides the user with the ability to select the inquiry views that they wish to view on their homepage.

The users can select the views they wish to display on their Homepage from the following:

• Monthly View • Weekly View • Current Absence View • Absence Summary

• Intermittent Absence View • Upcoming Absences View • Upcoming RTW View

The view selected will then become the default view for the user the next time they log into the system.

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Employee Absence Detail Page You can access data and update the information on this page from the “Edit Employee Information” and “Edit Absence Information” links.

You can also send messages and attachments directly to MetLife using the “Add Message/Attachments” link.

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Employee Absence History Page Absence History is an audit trail of all activity that occurs on the Absence and includes the following information:

• All Status Changes • Absence Received • Return to Work Date Updated • Absence Start Date Updated • Absence End Date Updated • Intermittent Absence Submission • New Certification Received

• Certification Frequency Updated • Certification Duration Updated • Email Sent to Employee • Email Sent to Employer • Letter Sent to Employee • Letter Sent to Employer

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Edit Employee Information

You can update their Employee ID, First Day Absent, Gender or Name from this link.

Clicking Submit will send the updates to the Case Manager and generate a confirmation page.

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Message/Attachments Comments and attachments can be sent to directly to MetLife by filling in the information in the online form and selecting Submit.

The Subject Headings drop down list allows you to select the reason for the message from the following:

• Child Date of Birth / Delivery Date • Date Last Worked / RTW Information • Job Specifics or Job Description Information • Medical Information

• Other Information • Phone Call Request Only • Salary and Salary Adjustments • Work Schedule Changes

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REPORT NEW ABSENCE This tab provides you with the ability to submit an Absence for employees by either clicking on the employee’s name in the list or using the search feature on right side of the page. You will be asked a series of questions that will help them select the correct type of absence to file for the employee.

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Select Type of Absence

Absence Submission Questions

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Absence Summary Review You will be given the opportunity to review the answers to the questions before submitting the request.

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Once the answers have been reviewed and you are satisfied that they are accurate, click on the “Submit” button below.

Absence Summary Confirmation Page

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Employee Summary ‘Search by:’ functionality provides you with the ability to search for information using the criteria listed below.

• Employee Name – Provides a list of the employee’s that match the search criteria. • Employee Number – Presents the Employee Summary page. • Claim Number – Presents the STD and LTD claim detail page. • Absence Number – Presents the Absence Detail page. • Social Security Number – Presents the Employee Summary page.

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Employee Information This section displays employee name, date of birth, ID Number and Absence Calendar.

Note: The Employee Demographic link will display eligibility information provided by your company about the employee.

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Leave Balance as of mm/dd/yyyy This section displays the time taken and time remaining for various leave programs. You can “hover” over the time in weeks to view the hours.

Note: The Employee Hours Requests by Day Report contains an entire year of the employee’s absence information broken down by day.

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Requests Awaiting My Review This section contains absences that you need to approve (Personal Leave/Extended Medical Leave). Verify that scheduling and business conditions will allow this person to be away from work during the time indicated.

Scheduled Absences This section displays all of the present and future dated absences for this employee. Clicking on Absence / Claim # will display the Absence Detail page.

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Absence History This section displays the employee’s past absences, when the “Absence End Date” is less than today.

Disability Claims This section provides a comprehensive view of all of the employee’s Short and Long Term Disability claims.

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Intermittent Periods This section provides all of the employee’s intermittent absences. An intermittent period is where an employee may be out of work more than once for the same qualifying reason.

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ABSENCE INQUIRY This tab provides you with a set of Inquiry views of employee absences for a specified timeframe via Start and End date.

The Select View option you to specify how you would like the information on employee absences to be displayed.

• Monthly View – This is a calendar view of the current month’s absences. The numbers on the days tell the number of employees that are scheduled for an absence on that particular date. The list view below the calendar has detailed information about the employee absences for that day.

• Weekly View – This view provides you with a detailed list of the employees that are out on leave for the current week.

• Current Absence View – This is a tabular detailed list of your Direct Reports’ current and future absences. • Absence Summary – This is a view of employee absences summarized by Absence type. • Intermittent Absences View – This is a view of employee intermittent Absences. • Upcoming Absences View – This is a view of future dated absences. • Upcoming RTW View – This is a list of absences with a RTW date in the future.

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Absence Inquiry Filters Users will have the ability to filter inquiry views based on the following:

• Case Structure • Claim/Absence Type • Claim/Absence Status • Manager • Work State

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DAILY STATUS VIEW The Daily Status View contains a daily report of all the specified absence activities by absence type for the past 30 days. Under each program, click on the various status types to view claims in each category that have been processed as of the prior day. You also have the option to print the screen or download to an Excel file for easy documentation or reporting for maintaining your records.

Note: Clicking on the ‘New Absence Submission’ link will display the employee detail for new FML/Other Absences Submissions that are in an “Approved” status.

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GLOSSARY

Claim Status Defined

STD/LTD claim statuses are defined as:

• Closed: The claim has been closed and no further benefits are payable. • Denied: The claim for benefits has been denied. • Open: The employee has been approved for benefits and will be or currently is receiving benefits. • Pending Claim: Not all required claim information has been received and/or a claim decision has not yet

been made. • Suspended: Payment of benefits has been discontinued. Benefits may recommence upon receipt and

review of requested information

FMLA claim statuses are defined as:

• Abandoned: Leave request opened in error. Disregard. • Approved: Request for leave has been granted. • Canceled: See Abandoned. • Closed: Family/Medical leave has ended. • Denied: Family/Medical leave request has been denied. • New: Newly received Family/Medical leave request awaiting further action. • Pending: Additional information needed before Family/Medical leave request determination can be

made. • Reopened: Additional Family/Medical leave information being considered.

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