Hope this helps
I can only tell you my own personal experience and hope that it answers some of your questions.
I was on short term disability through my employer. I was fired because of my disability. Yes, that can do that. If your employee has enough employee's than you may qualify for FM LA (you'll need to goggle the amount because I don't have the exact number) You have to be employed by the company for 12 months in order to even qualify. In my situation I was not there long enough to qualify and was terminated while on Short Term Disability. Which, if you are asking for some consideration you must give consideration as well. In a perfect world it would be reasonable to ask our employers to hold our jobs. Since the world is not perfect there must be some understanding that it is their personal company, their pride and joy, and they need the position that you were in covered in order for their business to continue. Which means, they may need to let you go and hire someone to complete your job. However, If you qualify and are granted FM LA- it only states that they must have a comparable job available to you when you return to work, and you are only allotted a certain time limit for FM LA to continue even if your disability is still ongoing after that time limit. It does not have to be the exact job held for you, it only has to be comparable.
On the subject of time frame: My short term disability ran out on September 19th, 2008. I am still waiting for my approval. I do not doubt that I will be approved but, it is a long process. It is easy to qualify for STD, when you are dealing with LTD it is a much more intense process. There are many complications that you will run into during this process, it will be time consuming - educate yourself on-line, be sure to dot your i's and cross your t's**************the insurance company will fight you every step of the way. If they paid on any claim because of a disability our premiums would be outrageous, so it is their job to weed through the paperwork and not pay on every single claim. Return requests as soon as you receive them, answer every phone call, if the process continues for more than 45 days, maybe consulting an attorney would be beneficial. As for me, I will continue to wait for my LTD to be approved, I have no doubt that it will but, not in the time frame I would like. Find any resources that you can for help in the meantime. Researching your options is your best weapon.
Good luck to you.