A federal district court in Tennessee ruled that ERISA did not preempt state law claims for short-term disability benefits because the short-term disability plan fell under the “payroll practice” exception of ERISA.  LeBlanc v. SunTrust Bank, No. 3:15-cv-00630 (M.D. Tenn. Aug. 24, 2015).  SunTrust provided employees with short-term disability benefits for up to 25 weeks per injury or illness and required employees to be approved for the full 25-week period before they qualified for long-term disability benefits.