Both short-term and long-term disability insurance policies are provided to offer income protection to individuals who become unable to work for medical reasons. 
Many employers experience a hardship when an employee is on long-term disability leave, as they feel obligated to hold the employee’s spot yet still need the work to be done. There is much reluctance to terminate employees on leave for fear of potential legal retribution. However, becoming familiar with the following acts will help both employers and employees become more aware of what is legal- and what isn’t. 
Protection under the Family and Medical Leave Act
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a federal law that provides employees with twelve weeks of unpaid leave per year to deal with medical issues of their own, or to take care of an immediate family member who is ill.
Not all workplaces are subject to the FMLA, and not all employees in these workplaces qualify for coverage. The FMLA only applies to companies who employ 50 or more employees located within 75 miles of each other. To qualify, employees must have worked for a total of one year and at least 1,250 hours in the preceding year. In addition, employees must inform their employer that they are taking FMLA leave.
FMLA is unpaid, but individuals can receive short-term or long-term disability benefits while on leave. According to a long-term disability lawyer in Pittsburgh, most employees will exhaust their short-term disability benefits before utilizing their long-term disability benefits.
Most employers will require employees to use their FMLA time while on disability. While an employee is on FMLA leave, they legally cannot be terminated as long as they don’t go over the allotted twelve weeks in a year. Once an employee exhausts their FMLA time, they run the risk of being terminated for excessive absences. However, if that employee is receiving disability benefits, they will continue to receive those benefits after termination.
Protection under the Americans with Disabilities Act
According to Nolo, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) makes it illegal to fire an employee due to disability. Individuals must qualify as disabled under the ADA’s definition in order to be protected by the act, which defines a disability as, “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity.”
Employers of 15 or more employees are legally obligated to offer reasonable accommodations of a disability, as long as it will not cause the business undue hardship. Responsibility is placed on the employee to inform the employer of their disability.
Under the ADA, employers cannot terminate an employee during or after a leave unless they can show that the employee cannot perform the essential function of the job. Typically, this requires the employer to try several accommodations specific to the employee’s disability before making such a determination. Additionally, extended leave could be considered a reasonable accommodation to the employee’s disability, which makes terminating employees due to additional leave time more difficult.