Written by Eric A. Shore, personal injury, disability, and employment law attorney, practicing since 1994, with offices in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Florida
Yes. You can be fired while on disability in New Jersey. But your employer cannot fire you because you are disabled, because you asked for medical leave, or because you needed accommodation. That is illegal.
New Jersey law gives disabled workers some of the strongest protections in the country. But those protections only apply if you act before the deadlines pass.
Most people think they have one problem. They often have several: a wrongful termination claim, a disability benefits appeal, and sometimes additional claims. All running at the same time with different deadlines.
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If You Cannot Read the Whole Article, Read This First • Firing you because of your disability or your medical leave is illegal under New Jersey and federal law. But not every firing is illegal, even if you are out on disability. • The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination prohibits disability-based firing even if your employer has only one employee. The federal ADA applies if there are 15 or more. Both require reasonable accommodation before termination. • If your long-term disability claim is denied after a termination, you have 180 days to appeal. Miss that and you may lose your right to fight it in court. Permanently. • FMLA protects your job for up to 12 weeks. But only if you have worked for the employer at least 12 months and they have 50 or more employees. Small business employees and newer workers often have far less protection. • Being fired does not automatically stop your disability benefits. Short-term disability, long-term disability, and Social Security disability can all continue after a termination. If something feels wrong about the timing of your termination, do not assume it was legal. Call 1-800-CANT-WORK for a free consultation. |
How Do You Know If Your Firing Was Illegal in New Jersey?
The clearest signal is timing. Call immediately if any of this happened:
- You were fired shortly after reporting an injury or asking for medical leave
- You suddenly started getting written up after years with no issues
- Your employer refused to offer any accommodation and then let you go
- Your position was filled while you were still out
- Your disability benefits were denied shortly after your termination
Timing matters. Paper trails matter. These cases are won or lost on both. If the timing feels wrong, do not assume the termination was legal. Call 1-800-CANT-WORK.
In New Jersey, a single termination can trigger claims under several bodies of law at once. The NJLAD. The ADA. The FMLA. ERISA. Each has its own deadline. Missing one does not cancel the others. But it costs you.
“I have seen employees get put on a performance improvement plan the week before their disability leave starts. Fired for a mistake from two years ago while they are still recovering. Let go four days after returning to work. The reasons sound different. The pattern is always the same.”
Eric A. Shore, Law Offices of Eric A. Shore
What Laws Protect New Jersey Workers Who Are Out on Disability?
Several bodies of law protect you, and they stack.
The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, known as the NJLAD, is one of the strongest disability protection statutes in the country. It covers employers with as few as one employee. Under the NJLAD, an employer may not fire, demote, harass, or otherwise punish a worker because of a disability or perceived disability. It also requires employers to provide reasonable accommodation for a disability unless doing so would cause undue hardship to the business.
The Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA, covers employers with 15 or more employees. It mirrors the NJLAD in most key ways, including the reasonable accommodation requirement. If your employer has at least 15 workers and fired you because of your disability or because accommodating you was inconvenient, that is a federal civil rights violation.
The Family and Medical Leave Act, or FMLA, covers employers with 50 or more employees. If you qualify, FMLA gives you up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year for a serious health condition. Your employer must hold your job or a substantially equivalent one until you return. Firing you during a legitimate FMLA leave is almost always illegal.
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act is a federal law that often gets overlooked. It applies to employers who receive federal funding, including hospitals, universities, government contractors, and many nonprofits. If your employer receives federal money, Section 504 prohibits disability discrimination independently of the ADA. Some workers who fall below the ADA’s 15-employee threshold are still covered here.
The key point across all of these: being on disability is not a shield against every firing. It is a shield against being fired because of your disability. Employers can still let people go for legitimate reasons. The question is always what the real reason was. Eric Shore has spent more than 30 years in New Jersey identifying the gap between the reason an employer puts on paper and the reason a court will find credible.
When Is Firing Someone on Disability Leave Illegal in New Jersey?
The timing of a termination tells you a lot. So does the paper trail.
Firing is almost certainly illegal when:
- Your employer fires you shortly after you request leave or disclose a disability
- You are terminated while on approved FMLA leave and the company cannot show a legitimate, unrelated reason
- Your employer refuses to offer any reasonable accommodation and fires you instead
- The position you held was immediately filled while you were still out
- You had no documented performance problems before your injury, and suddenly they surface when you file for leave
In more than 30 years of handling these cases across New Jersey, I have worked with people who had clean records for years. Then they got hurt. Then suddenly there were write-ups. That kind of timing is not a coincidence. Courts and juries are not fooled by it either.
When Can an Employer Legally Fire Someone on Disability Leave?
There are situations where a termination is legal even if someone is out on disability.
If the company is doing a genuine, documented layoff that would have included your position regardless of your injury, that can be legal. If you had documented performance problems that predate your leave, those do not disappear when you get hurt. If your position is genuinely eliminated and the company can show it, that matters.
Here is something most people do not realize: a doctor’s note saying you cannot work does not obligate your employer to hold your job forever. If you do not qualify for FMLA because the company is too small, because you have not been there long enough, or because you have used your 12 weeks, your job protection is limited. The NJLAD and ADA still prohibit firing you because of your disability. But an employer who has a legitimate reason and can document it may be able to move forward.
Small business employees and newer workers face this reality more often than anyone tells them. If you work for a company with fewer than 50 employees, FMLA does not apply to you at all. If you have been there less than 12 months, same result. That does not mean you have no rights. It means the rights you have are narrower, and knowing which ones apply matters.
New Jersey is an at-will employment state. At-will does not mean anything goes. It means the employer does not need a reason. It does not mean they can use an illegal reason.
What Happens to Your Disability Benefits If You Get Fired?
This is the question most people never think to ask. And it matters.
Short-term disability through your employer may continue after termination depending on the policy terms. Many policies pay through the approved disability period regardless of employment status. Check your plan documents. Do not assume the benefits stop just because the job does.
Long-term disability through your employer works the same way in most cases. If you are already receiving benefits when you are terminated, they typically continue. If you were in the application process when you were fired, the claim can still be submitted and approved. Long-term disability is governed by a federal law called ERISA. Denials have strict appeal deadlines, often 180 days. Miss that window and your right to fight a denial in court may be gone.
New Jersey Temporary Disability Insurance is a state program that pays up to $1,119 per week in 2026. If you filed for it while you were employed, a termination generally does not cut off that benefit. You must have applied within 30 days of your first day off work. If you have not filed yet and you are out of work because of an injury or illness, file now at myleavebenefits.nj.gov.
Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) is not tied to your employment status at all. If your injury is expected to prevent you from working for at least 12 months, you may qualify. SSDI pays an average of $1,630 per month in 2026. Most first applications are denied. An appeal with a lawyer succeeds at a significantly higher rate. Apply early. Most New Jersey claimants wait 12 to 24 months from application to first payment.
A lot of people think losing their job means losing everything. That is not how it works. The termination is one problem. The benefits are a separate set of rights. We handle both.
What If You Have More Than One Claim at the Same Time?
It happens more than people expect. Someone gets hurt. They go out on disability. They get fired. Now they have a wrongful termination question, a disability benefits appeal, and possibly a personal injury claim if someone else caused the injury. All open at the same time with different deadlines.
Missing one claim does not cancel the others. But it costs you. And the way one claim gets resolved can affect the value of another. That is why one legal team needs to see the whole picture.
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What Is a DISINJURY™ Case? At the Law Offices of Eric A. Shore, we use the term DISINJURY™ to describe cases where a single injury opens multiple legal claims at once. A personal injury case, a disability benefits claim, an employment claim. Each with its own deadline and each affecting the others. Most firms handle one of those. We handle all of them. “People call us right after an accident because they want help with the personal injury case. That is where their head is. But after we talk, many of them walk away knowing they also have an employment claim, a disability claim, or both. Spotting those additional claims is my favorite part of my job.” Eric A. Shore, Law Offices of Eric A. Shore |
What Should You Do Right Now If You Were Fired While on Disability in New Jersey?
Do not assume the reason they gave you is the only reason. Employers rarely say “we fired you because you got hurt.” They find another explanation. Your job is to look at what was happening before the injury and what happened after.
- Save everything. Emails. Text messages. Performance reviews. The termination letter. Any HR communications about your leave. If you are being locked out of systems, screenshot what you can before access is cut off.
- Find out if you were on FMLA. Check how long you had been employed, how many hours you worked, and whether your employer has at least 50 employees. If FMLA applied, it changes the analysis significantly. If it did not apply, your rights are different but they are not gone.
- Check your disability benefits immediately. Contact HR or your insurance carrier. Ask whether your short-term or long-term disability continues after termination. Do not assume. Get it in writing.
- Look at the timing. When did you report your injury or disclose your disability? When did the accommodation conversation happen? When were you fired? If those events cluster together, that is exactly what a lawyer needs to see.
- Call the Law Offices of Eric A. Shore before you accept anything. If a settlement is offered or benefits are being structured, have someone look at the whole picture first. The way things are resolved matters.
The Law Offices of Eric A. Shore has helped more than 40,000 clients throughout the United States navigate situations exactly like this. Call 1-800-CANT-WORK. The consultation is free.
Common Questions From New Jersey Workers Fired While on Disability
Can I be fired while on short-term disability in New Jersey?
Yes, but not because you are disabled or on leave. If your employer fires you because you filed for disability benefits or because your injury requires accommodation, that is illegal under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination and the ADA. If there is a legitimate, documented, unrelated reason, the termination may be legal. The timing and the paper trail usually tell the real story.
Does FMLA protect my job if I am out for an injury in New Jersey?
FMLA protects your job for up to 12 weeks of leave per year if your employer has at least 50 employees and you have worked there for at least 12 months, logging at least 1,250 hours in the past year. During that window, your employer must hold your position or an equivalent one. Firing you during approved FMLA leave without a legitimate unrelated reason is almost always a violation. If you work for a smaller employer or have not yet hit the 12-month mark, FMLA does not apply. But the NJLAD and ADA may still protect you.
Can my employer replace me while I am out on disability leave?
Temporarily filling your duties while you are out is generally allowed. Permanently replacing you and then claiming your position no longer exists is where it gets legally complicated. If you were on FMLA leave, replacing you permanently is almost never legal within that 12-week window.
Does my doctor putting me out of work protect my job?
Not automatically. A medical certification supports a disability claim and may trigger FMLA protections if you qualify. But it does not obligate your employer to hold your job indefinitely. If FMLA does not apply because the company is too small or you have not worked there long enough, your job protection depends on the NJLAD, the ADA, and whether your employer can show a legitimate reason for the termination.
Will I lose my long-term disability benefits if I am fired?
Usually not, if benefits were already approved or in process. Long-term disability is governed by ERISA. Once you are receiving benefits, a termination generally does not stop them. But if your claim is denied after the termination, you have 180 days to appeal. Miss that and you may lose your right to challenge the denial in court.
Can I collect Social Security disability if I was fired from my job?
Yes. Social Security disability has nothing to do with whether you are currently employed. If your medical condition is expected to prevent you from working for at least 12 months, you may qualify. SSDI pays an average of $1,630 per month in 2026. Most first applications are denied. An appeal with legal representation has a significantly higher success rate. Apply early. Most New Jersey claimants wait 12 to 24 months from application to first payment.
How do I know if my termination was illegal in New Jersey?
The clearest signal is timing. If the termination came shortly after you reported an injury, requested leave, or asked for an accommodation, that cluster of events is exactly what an employment attorney looks for. You do not need proof on day one. You need a lawyer to look at what happened and when. Call 1-800-CANT-WORK.
If you got hurt, lost your job, and do not know what you are entitled to, you are not alone. I have been handling these cases in New Jersey since 1994. The answers are rarely simple. But the starting point always is.
Call the Law Offices of Eric A. Shore at 1-800-CANT-WORK. Tell us what happened. We will tell you where you stand.
Eric A. Shore
Law Offices of Eric A. Shore
1-800-CANT-WORK | 1800cantwork.com
Philadelphia, PA | Drexel Hill, PA | Cherry Hill, NJ | Atlantic City, NJ | Fort Lauderdale, FL
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