HOW WAS YOUR EMPLOYER ABOUT YOUR TIME OFF/SHORT TERM DISABILITY?

Hello! Was curious if generally one can use short term disability for this surgery or have any of you run into a situation where you were told that since the surgery wasn't mandatory, you had to use vacation time first/or instead? After all your kind responses yesterday to my question about how long to expect to be off work, looks like I need to hit my employer up for some additional time for my upcoming surgery! I just wonder if I'll be told I can't use short term disability and I just want to know what my "rights" are before I go asking them. Thanks in advance to all for your assistance!

Hi Rebecca, I'm not only a Human Resources Director, but I've already had wls too! Check your policy for specifics, but GENERALLY...any surgery, illness or injury is covered by your policy. Also - read your benefits book carefully, some policies require you to use so much vacation/sick/PTO time before your STD kicks in, or they may have waiting periods. I had surgery (lap) in January and took two weeks off, worked another week part-time. My policy had an 8-day waiting period and did not require my sick or vac time to be exhausted. I could also use them simultaneously. So I got my full paycheck from my sick time, then a 66 2/3% check from STD insurance. I used it to help cover the out-of-pocket costs for my surgery. Everone at work was VERY supportive of my decision and worked with me great. Good luck & feel free to email me if you have more detailed questions. Barbie Carroll 281/220/150ish

Thank you Barbie! I'm glad to hear from an expert and that definitely makes me feel better! I just didn't want to get tricked into something and I'm probably just being paranoid, but I think being in the insurance biz does that to you.....

just a question, but do you work at SFCC?

Hello! Sorry, but what's SFCC?

In my opinion, if this surgery is deemed medically necessary, than I don't think it could be considered elective, meaning your employer couldnt say it is NOT a mandatory surgery. I'm pretty lucky because my company is allowing me to take two vacation days prior to surgery, then once I have surgery, the first five days missed will be "paid sick" because I accrued enough sick time, then the rest of the time will be Short Term Dis. I have 11 weeks of STD at 100% and another 15 weeks at 50%. Hopefully, I wont need more than 4 weeks STD. All the time from surgery date til my return date falls under FMLA, so my position is protected or they will have a similar position for me when I return. As stated before, check your policies. Good luck!

Thank you Amy! I just got done reading your post! Small world on this website !