Human Resource Blog

Iowa Short Term Disability

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An employee is unable to work for 3 weeks due to a non-work-related auto accident.  In Iowa, is she entitled to disability pay under any state or federal law?

It is unfortunate that no Iowa or federal law guarantees workers an income when they have a short-term disability.  This is true regardless of the cause of the disability.

Social Security will pay disability benefits, but only for those persons who have been disabled for five months or more.

Should an employee be injured at work, worker’s compensation benefits might kick in.  If an employee were qualified to receive such benefits, he or she might be entitled to receive medical benefits and disability pay.

There are many cases in which workers may be unable to work because of a “serious medical condition” that has been certified by a doctor.  In such cases, employees might be eligible to receive leave under FMLA.  FMLA, or the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, provides workers with up to 12 weeks of job-protected, unpaid leave per year.

Puerto Rico, plus five states in America, have state laws that require short-term disability benefits for all workers.  The states are New Jersey, New York, Hawaii, Rhode Island, and California.  Rhode Island funds their disability insurance program through employee payroll deductions.  The other states merely require employers to automatically provide short-term disability coverage to their workers.

California has the most generous short-term disability program, offering employees 55% of their salary (up to a maximum of $728 per week) for up to 52 weeks of disability.  Rhode Island offers benefits of 60% or more for up to 30 weeks, while other state programs provide benefits for up to 26 weeks. 

In New Jersey, the law provides employees with 66% of their salary, while New York offers disabled employees 50% of their salary.  The state of Hawaii offers employees 58% of their salary.

It is important to mention that most of these state plans require a one-week unpaid waiting period.  Two states, however (New Jersey and Rhode Island), pay workers retroactively for the first week if the workers have been on disability for three to four weeks. JH