diff --git a/zio-schema-json/shared/src/main/scala/zio/schema/codec/JsonCodec.scala b/zio-schema-json/shared/src/main/scala/zio/schema/codec/JsonCodec.scala
index b72d8af6d..abaec6bad 100644
--- a/zio-schema-json/shared/src/main/scala/zio/schema/codec/JsonCodec.scala
+++ b/zio-schema-json/shared/src/main/scala/zio/schema/codec/JsonCodec.scala
@@ -378,7 +378,9 @@ object JsonCodec {
 
     private def enumEncoder[Z](schema: Schema.Enum[Z], cfg: Config, cases: Schema.Case[Z, _]*): ZJsonEncoder[Z] =
       // if all cases are CaseClass0, encode as a String
-      if (schema.annotations.exists(_.isInstanceOf[simpleEnum])) {
+      if (schema.annotations.exists(_.isInstanceOf[simpleEnum]) && cases.forall(
+            _.schema.isInstanceOf[Schema.CaseClass0[_]]
+          )) {
         val caseMap: Map[Z, String] =
           schema.nonTransientCases
             .map(
@@ -699,7 +701,9 @@ object JsonCodec {
       }.toMap
 
       // if all cases are CaseClass0, decode as String
-      if (cases.forall(_.schema.isInstanceOf[Schema.CaseClass0[_]])) {
+      if (parentSchema.annotations.exists(_.isInstanceOf[simpleEnum]) && cases.forall(
+            _.schema.isInstanceOf[Schema.CaseClass0[_]]
+          )) {
         val caseMap: Map[String, Z] =
           cases.map(case_ => case_.id -> case_.schema.asInstanceOf[Schema.CaseClass0[Z]].defaultConstruct()).toMap
         ZJsonDecoder.string.mapOrFail(
diff --git a/zio-schema-json/shared/src/test/scala-2/zio/schema/codec/JsonCodecSpec.scala b/zio-schema-json/shared/src/test/scala-2/zio/schema/codec/JsonCodecSpec.scala
index 115bee8e5..f9900459a 100644
--- a/zio-schema-json/shared/src/test/scala-2/zio/schema/codec/JsonCodecSpec.scala
+++ b/zio-schema-json/shared/src/test/scala-2/zio/schema/codec/JsonCodecSpec.scala
@@ -292,6 +292,13 @@ object JsonCodecSpec extends ZIOSpecDefault {
           charSequenceToByteChunk("""{"oneOf":{"_type":"StringValue2","value":"foo2"}}""")
         )
       },
+      test("ADT with intermediate enumeration") {
+        assertEncodes(
+          Schema[IntermediateEnum],
+          IntermediateEnum.FinalElem,
+          charSequenceToByteChunk(""""FinalElem"""")
+        )
+      },
       test("case class") {
         assertEncodes(
           searchRequestWithTransientFieldSchema,
@@ -1226,6 +1233,12 @@ object JsonCodecSpec extends ZIOSpecDefault {
           Enumeration2(BooleanValue2(false))
         )
       },
+      test("ADT with intermediate enumeration") {
+        assertEncodesThenDecodes(
+          Schema[IntermediateEnum],
+          IntermediateEnum.FinalElem
+        )
+      },
       test("ADT with noDiscriminator") {
         assertEncodesThenDecodes(
           Schema[Enumeration3],
@@ -1742,6 +1755,14 @@ object JsonCodecSpec extends ZIOSpecDefault {
     implicit val schema: Schema[Enumeration3] = DeriveSchema.gen[Enumeration3]
   }
 
+  sealed trait IntermediateEnum
+
+  object IntermediateEnum {
+    sealed trait IntermediateElem extends IntermediateEnum
+    case object FinalElem         extends IntermediateEnum
+    implicit val schema: zio.schema.Schema[IntermediateEnum] = zio.schema.DeriveSchema.gen[IntermediateEnum]
+  }
+
   sealed trait Color
 
   object Color {