What happens if you collect short term disability while you work your second job?

Answer 1

If your Short-Term Disability Insurance policy has an "Own-occupation" definition of disability, and your second job is not related with your main occupation, you could continue receiving short term DI benefits as long as you are still disabled and can't perform your duties of your main job. That being said, your disability benefit may be reduced as a result of the other income, however. Fortunately, many disability policies have incentives to encourage people to work as much as they are safely able, so it's possible that you will still earn more between both sources of income than you would from just one or the other.

It should be noted that if the second job is related and/or the Short Term Disability company can prove that you are able to work at your primary job based on your duties you are performing at your second job, your benefits may stop.

The best place to start is to check your policy definitions and verify that your disability due to injury or sickness is covered on an "own-occ" or own occupation basis, and review what it says about partial disability benefits.