Human Resource Blog

Pennsylvania STD and Termination

	Benefits
Total Compensation Summary Performance Improvement Plan Performance Appraisal and Review Employee Payroll Status/Change Form Employee Change Form

	Termination
Employee Warning Notice Employee Final Warning Notice Employee Resignation Form Exit Interview Questionnaire Separation Checklist

We have optional short term disability insurance that the employee pays for. Can an employee who has received short term disability for 11 weeks go on disability again? And, can an employee who is receiving short term disability benefits be terminated for taking too much time off work?

Your question addresses two separate issues: short-term disability and leave from work. The answer could be different for each issue, depending on the circumstances of the disability and of the leave. There is a possibility that an employee receiving short-term disability payments could be fired for being away from work too often.

Let’s look at the disability issue first. When a worker is unable to work, they can be eligible for short term disability. Even when purchased through work, short term disability is a private insurance. Compensation for the employee on short term disability varies depending on the specific plan purchased.

Many of the plans offered provide payments for 13 to 26 weeks per year. Since the employee has already taken 11 weeks, he or she would still have 2 to 15 weeks of coverage available.

If, however, the employee works in California, Rhode Island, Hawaii, New York or New Jersey; the five states with a mandatory short term disability plan, the amount of leave remaining may be different.

The second part of the question pertains to job security. Under the FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act), employees are allowed up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave every 12 months. Employers can charge paid leave toward these 12 weeks of FMLA, but only if the employee is informed of this practice, in writing, prior to taking leave.

If the employee’s leave was being charged to FMLA, then he or she is entitled to only one more week of leave.

If the time wasn’t charged to FMLA, then the employee is still entitled to the 12 weeks of FMLA leave. FMLA leave is unpaid, but job-protected. When the worker returns, the employer must provide him or her with a job, either the same position or one with similar pay, benefits, duties and working conditions.

If the worker’s time off wasn’t pre-arranged to be charged to FMLA leave, the employer can not do so after the fact. JH