Approved - Now waiting till December

I was approved finally for the Open RNY, but because my surgeon can't get me in until first of Sept., and I will be in school, I am waiting until the break between semesters in Dec (the 19th to be exact). So I am finding it hard to be happy about it....I am a worrier and afraid that something will come up between now and then....I also wonder, since this is called "elective surgery" (it is called that isn't it?) that my work may turn down my request to use my sick days (11 of them) for time off? Anyone see a problem with that or had one?

Ann - First congrats on the approval Second - I talked to my H.R. person and she said as long as the medical insurance approves the surgery the time off is a guaranty (at least that is how it works in my office). I know that the surgery falls into the FMLA. If your place of employment is big enough for that to fall into FMLA i do not think that they can deny you the time off work. Congrats again, Nancy

what is FMLA??? Family Medical Leave Act????? YESSSSS if that is it, what do you mean the surgery "falls into it"

Yes, it is Family Medical Leave Act. MY H.R. manager said any surgery for yourself qualifies you to be able to take FMLA and so they can not deny you the time off work. You should be covered. They do not have to pay you (I got lucky and am getting paid) but they have to allow you the time off work without penalty. Good luck, Nancy

So, they can deny me my sick days? I know that you don't know my employer, but I worry, I love my job, but cannot go with any pay....Anyone else?

No, I am saying you should be able to use your days and they should not be able to give you a hard time. Good luck, Nancy

I will be able to use a combination of sick time and short term disability when I'm out. Using the ST disability will enable me to use up less sick time (ours is banked) - I will only need to use sick days to supplement the disability pay. Also, I qualified for FMLA. You will want to use FMLA in addition to sick/disability time because FMLA guarantees a position will be made available for you when you are able to return to work. You should talk to your HR department about all of this to see how it works for your employer. Good luck! Sandy

I hope I don't have to envoke the FMLA. I will have plenty of sick days, personal days, and vacation days..if I need them (by December I will have 27 days total. I plan only to have to use 13 of them....But if I have complications I will still have 14 left.....Are you saying they can "let me go" if I have to use all 27 and don't envoke the FMLA? I am so confused.

Since you're a teacher, things may be different - you guys have contracts that spell these kinds of things out. But for the rest of us folks who work in Illinois without a contract, we're what's called "at will" employees. "At will" means we can be fired without cause (though that's harder to do these days with some of the anti-discrimination laws). SO for me, without invoking FMLA, there is no guarantee that I'll have a job when I am off of disability - especially when sick time runs out. FMLA isn't instead of my regular leave, it's in addition to it (or at least layered on top of it). I was pretty confused too until I talked to the HR person who handles longer term leave. I hope I haven't confused you further! Sandy