Amazon short-term disability: how it works
Amazon's own public benefits overview says it provides short-term disability at no cost to eligible employees. Here is where the pay figures live, where your claim's administrator is named, and which part of the claim a health care provider completes.
Does Amazon offer short-term disability?
Yes. Amazon's public benefits overview for U.S. employees, read October 2026, says under the heading "Disability Insurance" that "Amazon provides both short-term and long-term disability coverage at no cost to you." The posted overview is labeled for the 2024 plan year; Amazon's current benefits page lists disability insurance without figures. That is the premise of everything below: it is insurance Amazon pays for, not a leave type you pay into.
The same overview keeps disability and leave apart. On leave, it says "Most leaves are unpaid," that all leaves have length limits, and that some leave types may need certification or a decision from your manager or Human Resources. Short-term disability is the piece that pays while you are out for your own illness or injury. If you have heard "STD" from a coworker or a leave letter, are out for weeks, and have no form in hand yet, this page is for that stage. The Amazon leave hub covers the leave types themselves.
Who is eligible for Amazon short-term disability?
The overview's one line on this, under "Disability Insurance," sets an hours-per-week threshold. The current figure is on that page and in your plan documents, and this page does not repeat it.
The overview does not say how those hours are counted or over what period. Whether your position meets the threshold is a question for Amazon, answered through your leave letter or the case in A to Z, Amazon's employee app.
How much does Amazon short-term disability pay?
Amazon's public benefits overview describes the plan as partial income if you become medically disabled, with a waiting period before short-term disability benefits start and a maximum number of weeks. The percentage, the waiting period and the length are on that page and in your plan documents, and this page does not repeat them. The same overview describes long-term disability as the plan that follows short-term.
Where your figures live
Two places hold your figures: the plan documents, and the letter from your claim's administrator, which states what applies to you. The plan decides each claim.
How do you apply for short-term disability at Amazon?
Amazon's public benefits overview names no administrator and no form for a disability claim. Start with the leave case in A to Z, Amazon's employee app. The leave letter you receive and the case itself name who administers your short-term disability claim and which form the provider completes. Go by those two, not by what a coworker's claim looked like last year. Keep the letter; it is the record of what was asked and by whom.
Two tracks, one case
Leave request
The case in A to Z
Disability claim
The plan decides
Your part is your own information and the dates. The provider's part is a statement your health care provider completes and signs, covered below. The Amazon leave paperwork page covers the forms side of an Amazon leave.
What does the provider's statement ask for?
Three things: a diagnosis, the dates you are unable to work, and your functional limitations, meaning what you can and cannot do while the condition lasts. It is the provider's part of a short-term disability claim, and it is not the FMLA certification. Amazon's overview does not name the form, so the one in your leave letter or A to Z case is the one that counts. The Attending Physician Statement guide goes through each part and who completes it.
- Diagnosis
- Dates you cannot work
- Functional limitations
Can you use short-term disability and FMLA at the same time?
Yes, the two can overlap where you are eligible for FMLA. Short-term disability is the insurance that pays; FMLA is the federal law that protects the job, and it is unpaid. Under 29 CFR 825.207(d), while you are receiving disability-plan benefits your employer may designate the leave as FMLA leave, and the FMLA rule about substituting paid leave does not apply, because the leave is already paid. How the two compare, which pays more, and what happens when the FMLA weeks run out are on the short-term disability versus FMLA guide. FMLA eligibility at Amazon is on the FMLA at Amazon page.
What if the claim is denied?
The plan or insurer decides a disability claim; Amazon designates the leave. A denial comes with a reason, and the reason sets the next step. The Amazon denial page covers the reasons Amazon leave cases are denied, and the Amazon appeal guide covers the appeal. Those pages cover the leave case. A denial of the disability claim itself comes with its own appeal instructions in the letter; follow those. If the reason is a provider's statement that was incomplete or never arrived, that is the part the next section is about.
Who completes the provider's part of your Amazon claim?
A health care provider does, after an evaluation. If yours will not complete the statement, or has no appointment soon, Certicare can evaluate you and, where the evaluation supports it, complete the statement. A state-licensed provider evaluates you online, then completes and signs the provider's section of the form named in your leave letter or A to Z case. You upload that form at intake. Certicare does not decide the claim and does not say who qualifies. The plan decides, and the administrator named in your case tells you where it stands. Completing our intake form starts the review; it does not guarantee a signature, and if the review does not support your request you are refunded in full.
The intake is an online questionnaire. You answer it, upload the form from your leave letter or case, and a state-licensed provider reviews your answers. The provider may follow up for more detail before deciding whether the evaluation supports the statement. The completed, signed section comes back by email, usually within 24 hours after Certicare has everything it needs.
One flat fee
$49
$49 covers your full DLS case: clinical review, the supported forms it needs, and any DLS verification, clarification, or corrections — no additional charges. If we can't complete your request, for any reason, you're refunded in full.
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