Long-term disability insurance (LTD) is one of several tools individuals can use to protect themselves and their futures against the economic consequences of long-term disability. Because LTD is intended primarily to replace a portion of an individual’s lost income if that person is forced to leave the workforce for an extended period due to illness or injury, often these insurance policies, and the people receiving benefits from them, can intersect with the employee rights long-term disability advocacy aimed at protecting LTD rights in the workplace. Often, as well, individuals attempting to adapt and find ways to earn income in spite of their health setbacks may find themselves navigating between workplace accommodations and LTD.
Who Needs Disability Rights Protections in the Workplace?
Disability can affect anyone, at any stage of life. A person in excellent health one day could experience an unexpected accident the next and face months, years, or even a lifetime of recovery and adjustment. Others may be diagnosed with progressive conditions that gradually worsen over time. Some individuals live with chronic illnesses that are unpredictable, with symptoms that can swing from nearly unnoticeable to severely disabling within hours or days.
Although periods of milder symptoms can feel like a reprieve, this unpredictability often makes it hard to plan for what each day will bring. Most employers value consistency in their teams, so even employees who have extended stretches of good health may find their jobs threatened by the uncertainty of their conditions. For these reasons, protecting LTD rights in the workplace is especially important for people who are trying to maintain their employment or return to work while navigating ongoing health challenges.
Two Legal Workplace Protections
Some states have their own laws that mandate more robust protections than those required by the federal government. If you are struggling to keep up with your job responsibilities due to a health issue, or if you are unsure about your options for returning to work after a health-related absence, there are two crucial pieces of federal legislation that may impact your case:
- The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
- The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
While neither is a form of long-term disability insurance, each establishes its own set of employee rights long-term disability recipients may need as they look for ways to re-enter the workforce.
What Is the FMLA and How Does It Work?
Under the Family and Medical Leave Act, employees are entitled to up to 12 “work weeks” of unpaid leave in any one-year period to deal with their own or their family members’ health issues from a pre-determined list. The number of situations that qualify for FMLA leave due to a family member’s injury or illness is actually greater than the number of personal health crises listed as qualifying circumstances under the FMLA. For your own health, the two reasons you may qualify for unpaid FMLA leave are:
- Giving birth to a child
- Any serious illness or injury that prevents you from being able to perform functions essential to your job role
The FMLA’s two major limitations in protecting LTD rights in the workplace are that the law prohibits employers from terminating your employment during your leave period, but does nothing to secure an on-leave employee’s income during the time they are off work. Your employer is legally required to either return you to your former position when you return from FMLA leave, or place you in a comparable role, but they are not obligated to pay you for any portion of that period.
ADA Protections for Employee Rights Long-Term Disability Recipients May Need
The Americans with Disabilities Act was passed to ensure that individuals with impairments that significantly hindered “major life activities” could still have a fair chance at participating in all aspects of society, including the pursuit of rewarding careers. While some people do suffer from disabilities so severe that they prevent both work and leisure activities, the United States government acknowledges that many people, even with significant impairments, can still play an active role in the workplace if they are granted even modest accommodations. The ADA was crafted to ensure those accommodations would be available, and later amended to further strengthen ADA protections and clarify that the definitions of disability, impairment, and other terms key to ADA compliance were to be interpreted broadly, rather than narrowly.
Although it may seem counterintuitive to link ADA workplace accommodations and LTD, given that long-term disability insurance benefits are usually paid only to people who are no longer at work, those accommodations can actually be critical to protecting LTD rights in the workplace. Most people who file long-term disability claims hope to return to work at some point, but without ADA employee rights long-term disability recipients may not be able to manage the transition back to full-time employment. Without workplace accommodations, many may not even be able to hold a part-time job. ADA workplace accommodations and LTD can work together to provide both a financial safety net and an on-ramp back to employment.
Understand Your Options in the Workplace
Some people are injured suddenly and spend weeks or months in the hospital before going home to begin the long process of recovery and, in many cases, learning to deal with frustrating challenges that they did not have to account for prior to the injury. These people generally have very little time to prepare. Others, on the other hand, develop conditions that take time to progress to the point at which they prevent the person with the condition from working altogether. The most complex cases are often those in which someone may have a chronic condition that can be well-managed for months or years at a stretch, only to present debilitating problems that arise with little warning and may take considerable time to get under control again.
The options that make the most sense for protecting LTD rights in the workplace in your own situation will depend on the structure of your job and the nature of your condition. The following questions may help you to identify some of the most important factors, and give you some tools for thinking about how they work together in your case:
- Can you currently work some days, or parts of some days? If you can work three or more days per week, but are capable of putting in more than eight hours on each of those days, you may consider talking to your employer about a scheduling adjustment that would allow you to keep up with your expected hours at work by concentrating them into fewer days. If you can only work a few hours per day, but you can offer those hours every day, then depending on the kind of work you do you might consider offering to work shorter days, but work over the weekends.
- What kind of sick leave or other paid time off (PTO) options does your current job offer? Most jobs that offer LTD benefits will also have some degree of PTO. Is there a way you can use PTO to accommodate your medical needs? Is it possible to negotiate for additional PTO throughout the year, even if it means a reduction in pay? Often the reduction in pay that might come with additional PTO can be less than the drop in income you would experience if you were approved for long-term disability, which only replaces a portion of your former wages.
- What is the elimination period for your current LTD plan? Most long-term disability policies do not pay benefits until short-term disability has expired, and many may not pay until the policyholder has been out of work for six months to a year. That elimination period is something you will likely need to account for in your long-term disability planning. FMLA leave may be an option for an initial portion of that period, but will likely not cover the full gap between leaving work and securing LTD benefits.
- Is your LTD own-occupation or any-occupation? An own-occupation long-term disability policy provides wage replacement benefits if you are unable to continue in your previous position, typically the one you had when you signed the policy. An any-occupation plan, on the other hand, only provides benefits if you are unable to continue working in any role. Many policies provide initial own-occupation benefits that are intended to give policyholders time to “re-skill” so that they can transition into less demanding jobs. These policies typically have a cut-off period after which they only cover disability that prevents any form of paid employment.
Thinking about the answers to these questions can help you to put together a picture of what might be reasonable and feasible in your situation, as well as helping you identify where the major challenges are most likely to appear.
Always Advocate for Yourself
The employee rights long-term disability sufferers hold are the same rights all other employees have under the law, but they may face a different set of practical challenges. The ADA guarantees that employers must provide reasonable accommodations to employees with disabilities. What looks “reasonable” in one context may be wholly unreasonable in another. Working from home two days per week may be a reasonable request from an office worker with severe mobility restrictions, enabling the employee to continue his or her desk work from a more accessible environment. The same accommodation might be completely impractical for a factory worker on a production line. Understanding how these rights apply in your specific situation is essential to ensure you receive fair treatment and the accommodations you need to keep working safely and effectively.
Put Your Own Health First
As you advocate for yourself, think about what you can still reasonably contribute in your workplace without doing further damage to your own condition. If you truly believe your work supervisor is declining reasonable accommodation requests, filing a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) can be an important step toward protecting LTD rights in the workplace.
Combining workplace accommodations and LTD can make your own life less stressful while also helping to keep your team at work running smoothly, but sometimes you, and your workmates, may encounter unexpected challenges as you deal with the inconvenient realities of long-term disability. Always be prepared to acknowledge that there may be times when your condition no longer allows you to participate effectively. Also, remember that protecting LTD rights in the workplace is crucial so that resources and benefits are available at exactly these times.
Conclusion: Protecting Your Rights and Your Well-Being
Balancing your health needs with your professional responsibilities is never simple, especially when you live with a long-term disability. Whether you’re exploring workplace accommodations, preparing to apply for LTD benefits, or navigating both at the same time, it’s important to remember that you have legal rights designed to protect your dignity, your livelihood, and your future. Staying informed about your options, understanding how laws like the ADA and FMLA apply to your situation, and advocating confidently for yourself can make all the difference. Above all, prioritize your well-being, because protecting your health is the foundation for sustaining everything else.
