The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and disability insurance are both important tools if an injury or illness means you have to take time off of work, but they do different things.
The FMLA protects your job while you’re out of work (it basically guarantees you a certain amount of unpaid leave), while disability insurance pays out to replace part of the income you lost.
What does the FMLA do?
The FMLA is job protection, not paid leave. It ensures you won’t lose your job or employer-sponsored health insurance if you need to take up to 12 weeks off because of:
The birth or adoption of a child
Caring for a family member experiencing health problems
An injury or illness that keeps you out of work
Reasons related to a family member on active military duty
The FMLA covers public-sector employees, as well as people in the private sector who work for companies that have at least 50 employees for 20 or more weeks of the year.
Your eligibility for FMLA leave depends on your work history and where you live. You must have worked for at least 1,250 hours (for 20 hours a week) in the last year, and worked for an eligible employer for at least the last 12 months.
What is disability insurance?
Think of disability insurance like income protection. You get it before you need it, and then if you get hurt or sick and can’t work, you file a claim and the benefits replace part of your income until you can resume your job or until your coverage is up.
You can have short-term disability insurance, which pays out from 3 to 6 months, or long-term disability insurance that can pay out for years or even decades in some cases.
You can buy disability insurance from a private insurance company, or you may get short-term coverage through your job. There is also federal disability insurance available through the Social Security Administration, called SSDI, but the benefits are low and it can be hard to qualify.
→ Learn more about the basics of disability insurance
FMLA vs. disability insurance
Both FMLA leave and disability insurance are essential if you can’t work, and you can often use them at the same time, but there are a few key differences that you should make sure to understand.
FMLA | Disability insurance | |
|---|---|---|
Who's eligible | People who work in qualifying jobs and meet the FMLA’s work requirements | Anyone who has coverage, either through their job or through a private policy |
What’s covered | Covers you if you’re out of work for up to 12 weeks because you or a family member need medical care. Covers you while you’re out of work for up to 12 weeks because of a new child in your family. | Covers most kinds of injuries and illnesses that could keep you from working. Excludes certain situations, like self-inflicted injuries. |
What it does | Holds your job for up to 12 weeks if a qualifying medical or family-related event keeps you from working. Keeps you on your work-provided health insurance during your leave. | Pays out weekly or monthly while you’re out of work so you can keep up with your expenses. |
How long coverage lasts | You’re covered for one 12-week leave of absence per year. Coverage lasts for 26 weeks if you have to care for a family member in active-duty military service. | Short-term disability insurance pays benefits for 3 to 6 months, sometimes up to 12 months. Long-term disability insurance pays benefits for a year or more, but may pay out until you’re 65 or 67. |
How to file for coverage | Notify your employer of your need to take leave, then follow your company’s directions to start your leave. | Make a claim with your disability insurance company. |
When coverage starts | Once your leave begins — there is no waiting period. | Following a waiting period that lasts anywhere from a couple of weeks to two years after your disability starts. |
What about pre-existing conditions? | Pre-existing conditions don’t affect FMLA coverage. | Your policy won’t pay benefits for medical conditions you had before buying coverage. |
Can you use disability benefits and the FMLA at the same time?
Yes. While disability insurance and the FMLA are different from one another, both of them can work together when you need to take time off work. Your employer may even remind you to file for FMLA coverage if you need to use your work-provided disability insurance.
For example, let’s say that you’re expecting a baby soon and you want to use your short-term disability coverage to pay out while you recover from childbirth.
In this scenario, when you let your work know about your upcoming leave, your employer would tell you if you’re eligible for FMLA protection and how to file. Then, your leave time would start once your doctor tells you that you can’t work anymore. At this point, you can file a disability claim and wait for your coverage to start.
What if you still can’t work after 12 weeks?
While you can use disability benefits at the same time you’re eligible for FMLA protections, your disability benefits can also last longer than the 12 weeks you’re covered by the FMLA.
While you could keep collecting disability benefits after 12 weeks, your job is no longer protected after the FMLA period is up.
→ Read more about the amount of disability insurance you may need
What if you don’t have disability insurance?
Disability insurance, especially a short-term policy, works great with the employment protections that the FMLA provides. If you don’t have a personal disability insurance policy or get coverage through work, you might still be able to replace your income another way.
There are a few states that offer paid family and medical leave that you can pair with the employment protection you get under the FMLA. The states that provide these benefits include:
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
District of Columbia
Massachusetts
Maine
Maryland
Minnesota
New Jersey
Oregon
Rhode Island
Washington
What about Social Security?
Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) is a government-run program that pays you benefits if you become disabled and can’t work. Because of its eligibility rules, SSDI doesn’t interact with the FMLA the same way as short-term disability insurance does.
Unlike with a personal disability insurance policy, you can only get disability benefits from SSDI for disabilities expected to last 12 months or longer. That’s long past the FMLA’s 12-week job protection period.
→ Read more about how SSDI compares with disability insurance
