Important information about your insurance cover during stand down

When you commence a period of stand down, any Standard Cover for death and TPD you have automatically continues during the stand down period for up to two years. If you have Voluntary Cover for death and TPD, this will continue as long as premiums continue to be paid.

If you are still stood down after this time, we’ll send you a reminder and you’ll be able to apply for an extension. This extension will be subject to the approval of the insurer and your employer. If you request for your cover to be reinstated after it has ceased, you may be required to provide evidence of good health.

We are still working with the insurers to finalise how they will consider the stand down periods, including how any paid leave is treated for the purposes of your income protection cover.

If you’re stood down, your income protection cover will cease until your stand down ends and you are stood up again, at which point it will restart automatically if the stand down period is up to two years.

Stand down periods of seven days or less that start on or after 2 August 2020 will be ignored for insurance cover purposes and you will be covered continuously during these periods. For periods of intermittent stand down and stand up before 1 August 2020, we are still working to confirm the arrangements with our insurers.

If you are regularly working for three weeks, then stood down for three weeks, you would be covered for income protection benefits for the periods you are working – that is, your income protection cover would be turned on and off every three weeks.

If you are partially stood down, working three days a week and stood down for the rest of each week, then your income protection cover would continue uninterrupted.

If your stand down extends for two years or more, your cover will not restart automatically. If you would like your cover to resume, you will need to apply for it to be reinstated and you may need to supply medical evidence.

We are working closely with our insurers to consider how the stand down will impact the outcome of assessing claims. We know that the extent and nature of the stand down varies across the Qantas Group, and so the particular circumstances of each claim will be reviewed carefully. If you are unsure whether you were covered or have an eligible claim, we encourage you to submit a claim application for us to review with the relevant insurer.

You don’t need to do anything. However, if you would like income protection cover while you are stood down, you may wish to consider alternative options with other providers.