Unum denied my long-term disability claim 14 months in saying I can do 'sedentary work' despite documented fibromyalgia, lupus, and a treating rheumatologist's restriction to 4 hours per day. What does the appeal actually need to look like?

I am 47, was a senior project manager at a software company for 11 years before going out on LTD in early 2025. My diagnoses are systemic lupus erythematosus (confirmed by ANA, anti-dsDNA, and clinical findings since 2022), secondary fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue. My rheumatologist has restricted me to 4 hours per day of sedentary activity with frequent rest breaks, no sustained cognitive demand longer than 30 minutes, and no driving on bad days. I qualified for short-term disability without issue, transitioned to LTD through Unum in May 2025, and now 14 months in they have terminated benefits.

The denial letter says they performed a "transferable skills analysis" and identified four sedentary occupations I could perform: customer service representative, scheduler, data entry clerk, and call center quality assurance reviewer. They had their own medical reviewer (an internal medicine doctor, not a rheumatologist) review my file and conclude I retain capacity for "full time sedentary work with normal breaks." They explicitly ignored my treating rheumatologist's 4 hour restriction and ignored my treating pain management doctor's notes about cognitive fog and concentration impairment.

The policy is governed by ERISA which I am learning is bad news for claimants. I have 180 days to file an administrative appeal and that appeal is essentially my only chance to build the evidence record. If I sue later, the court is limited to the administrative record so anything I do not put in the appeal cannot be used in litigation. The carrier gets deferential review under abuse of discretion in most circuits which makes winning hard.

What does a real appeal package look like? I have lined up an ERISA disability attorney who works on contingency. He is asking for an updated rheumatologist statement, a functional capacity evaluation, a vocational expert rebuttal of Unum's transferable skills analysis, and a neuropsychological evaluation to document the cognitive impairment. Total out of pocket cost is going to be around $4,800 for the evaluations. Has anyone been through an ERISA LTD appeal? Did adding the FCE and neuropsych make the difference? And how long does Unum typically take to decide?