ASRS Disability Benefits for Arizona Teachers: Rules and Appeals

Arizona teachers who cannot work because of a serious illness or injury are covered by the Arizona State Retirement System’s Long Term Disability Income Program, which replaces two-thirds of monthly pay after a six-month waiting period. ASRS disability benefits for Arizona teachers come through this LTD program automatically, funded by a small payroll deduction, and administered by a third-party claims manager, Broadspire Services, Inc. The program is separate from the ASRS pension, though it bridges a disabled teacher toward eventual retirement by keeping service credit accruing.

Who Qualifies

Any ASRS member actively contributing to the system when the disability begins may file a claim. You must be unable to perform the duties of the job you held at the onset of the disability, and that inability has to be backed by objective medical evidence — lab results, imaging, or quantitative test data — from a licensed physician who is actively treating you.¹

A member who has already retired and started drawing an ASRS pension, or who has withdrawn their account balance, is not eligible. Members of other Arizona public safety or elected-officials retirement systems are covered under their own plans, not ASRS LTD. New state and university employees hired on or after July 20, 2011 become eligible for LTD coverage in their 27th week of employment.²

In 2025, the Legislature enacted HB 2077, which added an explicit requirement that the disability must have occurred while the member was employed by an ASRS employer and must prevent the member from performing that job. ASRS described the change as codifying existing practice and the program’s original intent.³

How Much the Benefit Pays

The base benefit is two-thirds (66⅔%) of your monthly compensation at the time the disability began.² A teacher earning $5,000 a month would see roughly $3,333 before offsets. The floor is $50 a month. An ASRS actuarial valuation references an “initial maximum guaranteed benefit of $2,000 for active members” as a modeling assumption, suggesting a practical cap may exist, though the LTD guide itself does not state an explicit ceiling.⁴

Several sources of income reduce that payment:

Social Security disability or retirement benefits offset the LTD payment by 85% of the Social Security amount, for disabilities that began on or after July 1, 2008.⁵
Workers’ compensation and employer-provided disability or sick pay reduce the benefit dollar for dollar.
If you earn wages from other work while on LTD, half of those wages offset the benefit.
Combined income from all sources cannot exceed 100% of your pre-disability compensation for disabilities starting on or after August 2, 2012.²

For federal income tax purposes, 50% of the LTD benefit is taxable, and the plan asks you to complete withholding elections when you file.

The Six-Month Waiting Period

ASRS does not offer short-term disability. Payments begin only after a six-consecutive-month elimination period from the date of disability, which means a teacher has to cover roughly half a school year of lost income before an LTD check arrives.¹

What fills the gap varies by district but usually draws on accumulated paid sick leave, personal leave, any district-level leave banks, and any private short-term disability insurance you carry. The federal Family and Medical Leave Act provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for eligible employees, with group health insurance maintained during that period.⁶ Arizona’s earned paid sick time law (A.R.S. § 23-373) also allows accrued sick time to be used for personal illness or medical care.⁷ Because district policies differ, the Arizona Education Association advises members to work through their local associations on available leave.

How Long Benefits Last

Duration depends on your age when the disability began:

Disability before age 65: benefits continue until the later of your normal retirement date or 60 months of payments.
Disability between ages 65 and 68: benefits continue through the month after you reach age 70.
Disability at age 69 or older: benefits continue through the month following 12 months of payments.²

Payments end sooner if you are no longer medically disabled, refuse a work rehabilitation program directed by Broadspire, fail to remain under a doctor’s active care at least once per calendar year, start an ASRS pension, or withdraw your ASRS account balance. Payments are suspended during incarceration lasting more than six months.

There is a separate durational rule buried in the definition of disability itself. After an initial 30-month period during which “disabled” means unable to do your own job, the standard tightens: you must show inability to perform any work for which you are reasonably qualified by education, training, or experience. HB 2090, signed by Governor Katie Hobbs on April 13, 2026, changed how the 24-month threshold for that stricter definition is counted, dropping the previous “24 months within a five-year period” language in favor of “a total of 24 months.”⁸

How LTD Connects to Your ASRS Pension

LTD is not a disability retirement pension. It is an income-replacement benefit that runs alongside your pension eligibility, and you cannot receive both an LTD check and a monthly ASRS pension at the same time — starting a pension terminates LTD.⁹

The critical feature for teachers is that approved LTD recipients continue accruing ASRS service credit during their time on disability, from the date of disability until normal retirement, capped at the greater of 30 years of total service or the years already credited when the disability began.² Since the ASRS pension is calculated as Total Service Credit × Graded Multiplier × Average Monthly Compensation, more service credit means a larger pension when you eventually retire.¹⁰

The graded multiplier steps up at service thresholds: 2.10% up to 19.99 years, 2.15% from 20 to 24.99 years, 2.20% from 25 to 29.99 years, and 2.30% at 30 or more years.¹¹ A teacher who crosses a threshold while on LTD locks in a permanently higher multiplier on the full pension. Average Monthly Compensation, by contrast, is set from the highest consecutive months of actual pay (36 or 60 months depending on when you joined ASRS), not the LTD benefit itself.¹²

Filing a Claim

File as soon as it becomes clear the disability will last at least six consecutive months. The initial claim must be submitted within 12 months of the date of disability unless you can show good cause for a late filing.²

Request the claim packet from your district’s HR or benefits office. It contains an employee claim statement, medical-information release authorizations, federal tax withholding forms, a direct deposit form, a reimbursement agreement, and an attending physician’s statement your treating doctor must complete. Your employer fills in its portion and forwards the entire packet to Broadspire.⁹

Broadspire assigns a claim number, reviews the medical evidence, and may require an independent medical examination at no cost to you. Once approved, you have to stay under a physician’s active care, make sure providers complete requested progress reports, see a specialist at least once a year, and report any additional income to Broadspire.

The Social Security Requirement

If Broadspire or its advocacy firms conclude you are a candidate for Social Security Disability Insurance, applying is not optional. You must file for SSDI and pursue every appeal level, up to a hearing before a Social Security Administrative Law Judge, and failure to do so can affect your LTD eligibility.⁹ Broadspire provides access to advocacy firms to help.

Once SSDI begins, your LTD benefit drops by 85% of the Social Security amount. Cost-of-living adjustments Social Security grants after your LTD payments begin, and reasonable attorney fees paid to secure the SSDI award, are excluded from the offset calculation.⁵ Report SSDI payments to Broadspire promptly; an unreported award creates an overpayment that ASRS is authorized to recover from future LTD or pension checks.

Vocational Rehabilitation

The LTD program includes a work rehabilitation component. Broadspire may direct you into a vocational rehabilitation program for which you are reasonably qualified by education, training, or experience, and refusing to participate ends your benefits.² The initial claim form asks you to describe your ability to participate, so this factor is evaluated from the start.

If Your Claim Is Denied

A denial can be challenged on two tracks that run separately.

Broadspire Review

You have 60 days from receiving the denial notice to submit a written request for review to Broadspire, along with any additional supporting documentation. The denial letter itself explains the specific reasons, what more could help, and how to file the appeal. Appeals go to Broadspire at PO Box 14773, Lexington, KY 40512.²

ASRS Administrative Appeal

You may also use the ASRS appeal process, which has several levels:¹³

Assistant Director review by the ASRS Member Services Division, typically decided within 10 business days.
Deputy Director review, which you may take as the first level if you prefer to skip Assistant Director review. Also typically 10 business days.
Appeals Committee of the ASRS Board of Trustees. If you disagree with the Deputy Director’s decision, you have 30 days to appeal. Before the committee meets, you may request an informal settlement conference involving an ASRS representative and an Assistant Attorney General.
Administrative Law Judge at the Office of Administrative Hearings if settlement fails. The ALJ issues a recommended decision within 20 days after the record closes.
Final decision by the Appeals Committee, which may accept, reject, or modify the ALJ’s recommendation. A member who disagrees may seek judicial review in Maricopa County Superior Court.

One related benefit worth flagging: LTD recipients with at least five years of ASRS service credit may qualify for the retiree health insurance premium subsidy, which offsets the cost of eligible ASRS-offered or qualifying employer-sponsored plans. The subsidy does not apply to private insurance or federal marketplace coverage.¹⁴

1
Arizona State Retirement System. Long Term Disability Overview
2
Arizona State Retirement System. ASRS Employee LTD Guide
3
Arizona State Retirement System. 2025 Legislative Summary
4
Arizona State Retirement System. ASRS LTD Funding Valuation
5
Arizona Legislature. SB 2145 Summary
6
DB101 Arizona. FMLA Leave
7
Arizona Education Association. Employment Rights FAQ
8
Arizona Legislature. HB 2090 Summary
9
Arizona State Retirement System. Long Term Disability
10
Arizona State Retirement System. Estimate Your Benefits
11
University of Arizona Human Resources. ASRS Retirement Handbook
12
Arizona State Retirement System. ASRS Basics Handbook
13
Arizona State Retirement System. Member Appeals
14
Arizona State Retirement System. Retiree Health Insurance Premium Benefit