You're managing a chronic health condition while your company announces another round of cuts. The pain is worsening, your cognitive symptoms are getting harder to hide, or the stress itself has become debilitating—but you keep showing up because you're terrified that taking medical leave will paint a target on your back. This impossible situation is playing out across the United States, and especially in California and Arizona, as thousands of tech employees are facing layoffs in 2025 and 2026.
The pressure to power through illness during workforce reductions is intense. You need the income. You fear being seen as less productive than healthier colleagues. Your career identity feels tied to keeping up appearances. But working through a disabling condition creates a dangerous trap: it can make proving your disability nearly impossible later when you finally need those benefits you've been paying for.
When "Getting By" Actually Means You're Disabled
Most people think disability means being completely unable to do any work. That's not what your long-term disability policy requires. The legal definition focuses on whether you can perform the material and substantial duties of your own occupation, not whether you can drag yourself to a desk and survive the day.
LTD policies typically use two definitions. "Own occupation" coverage—usually for the first 24 months—means you can't do your specific job. A software engineer who can no longer focus for extended periods, attend meetings, or meet deadlines is disabled under own occupation, even if they could theoretically do some other, less demanding job. "Any occupation" coverage kicks in after 24 months and requires that you can't do any job you're reasonably qualified for given your education and experience.
Here's what disability actually looks like for employees still showing up: You work from home because commuting is impossible. You take breaks every 30 minutes that your colleagues don't need. Projects that used to take you two days now take a week. You've quietly asked your manager to reassign certain duties because you physically or mentally can't handle them anymore. Your team has learned to pick up your slack during bad days. You schedule all your meetings for mornings because by afternoon you're non-functional.
These aren't signs you're "getting by"—they're accommodations masking the severity of your condition. When you file a disability claim, insurers look at whether you can perform your job duties without substantial help. If you've been working through symptoms by creating informal modifications, you've been functionally disabled even though you haven't stopped working entirely.
The 2025 layoff wave adds another layer. Employees may find that job insecurity itself has triggered or worsened anxiety, depression, and stress-related physical symptoms. Mental health conditions qualify for disability benefits when they prevent you from performing your job duties. If the constant fear of layoffs has you unable to concentrate, sleeping poorly, experiencing panic attacks at work, or requiring psychiatric medication just to function, that's potentially a disabling condition—not just normal workplace stress.
The Documentation Dilemma: Why Working Through It Hurts Your Claim
Insurance companies evaluate disability claims based on medical records. If your records don't show you sought treatment for symptoms that affected your ability to work, the insurer will argue you weren't really disabled—you were just employed and functioning normally until you got laid off and suddenly decided to claim benefits.
This is the gap problem. You've been managing chronic pain, fatigue, cognitive issues, or mental health symptoms for months or years, but you haven't been completely honest with your doctors about how these conditions affect your work capacity. Maybe you mentioned the pain but not that it prevents you from sitting through meetings. You told your psychiatrist you're stressed but not that you can't focus well enough to code anymore. You discussed your fatigue but not that you need two-hour naps in the middle of the workday.
When you file a disability claim after a layoff, the insurer requests your complete medical history. If your records show you complained of "moderate lower back pain, improving with physical therapy" but don't mention that you can't sit for the six-hour stretches your job requires, the insurer will deny your claim. From their perspective, your medical records contradict your claim that you couldn't perform your job.
You need contemporaneous medical documentation—records created at the time you were experiencing symptoms—that shows your functional limitations. Your doctor's notes should include specific statements: "Patient reports inability to sit for more than 30 minutes due to pain." "Patient describes cognitive difficulties affecting work performance." "Symptoms have required workplace modifications."
The challenge is balancing workplace privacy with building a paper trail. You don't want your employer to know the full extent of your limitations if you're trying to avoid being targeted in layoffs. But you do need medical records that support a future disability claim. The answer is being fully honest with your healthcare providers while being strategic about what you disclose at work. Your medical records are confidential. Your doctor isn't reporting to your employer. Create the documentation you need with your physicians even if you're not ready to file a claim.
Your Legal Protections During Layoffs (Most Employees Don't Know These)
The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits employers from discriminating against employees with disabilities in layoff decisions. Companies must use consistent, non-discriminatory criteria when selecting people for workforce reductions—legitimate factors like performance, seniority, or elimination of job functions. They cannot single you out because of a disability, a history of disability, or even a perceived disability.
If you've been using accommodations—modified schedules, ergonomic equipment, reduced workload—your employer cannot penalize you for those accommodations when making layoff decisions. Performance metrics can't include absences or productivity issues related to approved disability accommodations. If you took FMLA leave for treatment and that leave is held against you in a layoff decision, that's illegal discrimination.
The Family and Medical Leave Act provides 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year for serious health conditions. If you're on FMLA leave when layoffs are announced, your employer generally cannot terminate you during that leave period. The job protection from FMLA doesn't mean you're immune from layoffs forever, but it does mean they can't fire you specifically because you're using protected leave.
Despite these legal protections, subtle discrimination happens. Employees with visible health issues report being quietly excluded from key projects, receiving lower performance ratings without clear justification, or being told their positions were eliminated when similarly situated healthy colleagues were retained. If you suspect discrimination, document everything—emails, performance reviews, communications about your health or accommodations, and the timeline of layoff decisions. You can file a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, though these cases are often difficult to prove.
The practical reality is that documenting your health condition doesn't legally make you a target, but it may create uncomfortable conversations. That's why many employees experiencing disabling symptoms don't request formal accommodations or file disability claims until after a layoff. The question becomes: Is protecting your job now worth potentially losing disability benefits later if you can't prove your condition existed during employment?
Four Critical Decision Points
You're Hearing Layoff Rumors and Your Health Is Declining
This is the time to act proactively. Schedule appointments with your physicians and request detailed documentation of how your condition affects your ability to perform your specific job duties. Obtain copies of your long-term disability policy and understand the elimination period—typically 90 to 180 days you must be disabled before benefits begin. If layoffs are imminent and your health is genuinely preventing you from doing your job, filing a disability claim before termination protects your eligibility. Claims filed while clearly employed face far less scrutiny than claims filed days after a layoff. If your company issues formal WARN notices, our guide on strategic use of your 60-day window to protect disability coverage provides week-by-week action steps.
You Received a 60-Day WARN Notice
You have a critical but limited window. Your disability coverage ends on your last day of employment. If you're experiencing disabling symptoms, you need to file your claim and complete your elimination period before your termination date if possible. This timeline becomes especially urgent if you've been managing symptoms for a while but haven't yet filed. Get medical certifications immediately, submit your claim application, and document the timeline showing your disability began during covered employment. For more details on navigating this specific situation, see our article on what happens to LTD benefits when you lose your job during layoffs.
You're Already Informally Accommodating Yourself
Pay attention to the modifications you've quietly made. If you're working from home specifically because commuting is impossible, if you've arranged flexible hours to manage symptoms, if you're avoiding certain job duties you physically or mentally can't handle, or if colleagues are regularly covering for you on bad days—you may already meet your policy's definition of disability. This isn't sustainable long-term. Your health is likely to worsen under the stress of layoffs, and you risk being fired for performance issues before you secure disability protection. Recognize when "getting by" has become a daily struggle that meets the legal threshold for benefits you've been paying for.
Job Stress Itself Has Become Disabling
Anxiety and depression triggered or worsened by layoff fears qualify as disabling conditions when they prevent you from performing job functions. Mental health disability claims require different documentation than physical conditions. You need psychiatric evaluations, medication records, and detailed statements from mental health providers about functional limitations—inability to concentrate, make decisions, handle workplace interactions, meet deadlines, or maintain attendance. Don't minimize these symptoms as just "stress everyone is experiencing." If your mental health has deteriorated to the point where you can't function in your job, that's potentially a legitimate disability claim even if the underlying cause is work-related stress.
Protect Yourself Now: Immediate Action Steps
If you're experiencing health issues during this uncertain time, take these steps to protect your rights:
See your doctor and be completely honest about how your condition affects your work capacity. Don't downplay symptoms or functional limitations. You need medical records that accurately reflect your struggles, not records that make it look like you're managing fine.
Document your symptoms in writing. Keep a personal journal noting specific days when symptoms prevented you from performing job duties, accommodations you've had to make, and the impact on your work quality and productivity. This contemporaneous record supports your timeline if you later file a claim.
Understand your policy's elimination period and what it requires. Some policies count only days when you're receiving care from a licensed provider. Others have specific requirements about work cessation. Know the rules before you need to use them.
Get your Summary Plan Description and complete policy documents from HR now, before any layoff announcement. You need to understand your coverage terms, benefit amounts, and filing requirements.
Consider filing before termination if your symptoms are severe and you meet your policy's definition of disability. Waiting until after you lose your job makes claims significantly harder to prove. The burden of showing your disability began during covered employment falls entirely on you once your coverage ends.
When to consult an ERISA attorney: if you're facing imminent layoffs with a health condition that prevents you from doing your job, if you've received a WARN notice and need to file a claim quickly, if you're unsure whether your symptoms meet your policy's definition of disability, or if you're considering signing a severance agreement that might affect future disability claims. For guidance on that specific issue, see our article on severance agreements and disability benefits.