Some of my clients who are applying for social security disability benefits ask me about whether they may also qualify for short term disability. However, most of my clients have already exhausted their short term disability benefits before they file for social security disability benefits.Short term disability insurance is offered by some employers for their workers. This type of disability insurance pays a percentage of a disabled employee's salary (typically between 50% and 70%) for a set amount of time (typically between 10 to 26 weeks). An employee is considered disabled under the terms of the short term disability policy if he cannot perform the duties of his job due to an illness or injury.

Many times an employee is required to use up her sick days before coverage for short term disability kicks in. Usually the employer pays for and provides this benefit for employees ("employer–paid").

In most states, employers are not required by law to provide short term disability coverage available to their employees. However, in some states such as Hawaii, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island there are laws that require employers to provide short term disability coverage.

Because short term disability insurance benefits are temporary in nature and usually expire in a short number of weeks, most social security disability applicants have used up any of these benefits long before pursuing their claim for SSI or SSDI benefits with the Social Security Administration.

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