HR / Federal Government Health Care Pre-Surgery

Hi Everyone,

I'm at the point where I'm waiting for the call for a surgery date. I've met with the surgeon already and am good to go...almost.

My question is for anyone working in the federal government, what do you have to do prior to your surgery? I'm assuming I'll be off for 2 to 3 weeks (hopefully not longer as it's only a desk job), but do I need to notify HR, contact Sun Life, what is the process on that regard before surgery?

Obviously I'll let my director know I will be having surgery on XX date and will likely be off for 3 weeks, but what else might I have to do?

Thanks everyone, and I'm very much looking forward to this and will probably be much more active on this in the coming weeks.

Hi,

I just told my supervisor and gave her a note from my doctor that said I would be off of work for up to six weeks as Certified sick leave, which I had, if you have no sick leave you can request sick leave to been advanced to you.

I told my supervisor nothing about why I was off just that I would be off for that time as they are not required to know or ask.

I am out on the road and do have to lift up to 40 lbs so I took the full six weeks, but if I was at a desk I would have been fine in 2 weeks but I would have probably not been able to do full days as I slept a lot the first month after surgery.

I never notified HR or Sun Life.

Agreed. Do not tell them anything. You don't have to. Your surgeon will fill out a very generalized form that states you are getting surgery and what your estimated return to work date is. Submit this to your HR. You do not have to tell the specifics of any surgery.

I work for the federal government...in fact, I'm a Director. I had surgery about 7 years ago. There is no requirement for you to disclose what type of surgery you're getting. You just need to bring in a doctor's note stating how long you will be off due to surgery.

You also do not need to notify Sun Life. It's not an insurance matter.

In my case, I was very open about the surgery to my boss and co-workers. My workplace was very supportive. In fact, it was helpful, especially when I had to go on the shakes for a few weeks before surgery. I took three weeks off of work which is what was recommended by my surgeon at the time. And I took full advantage of that to be in a great space when I returned to the office.

Good luck!

DD