Time off at work FMLA STD LTD 2021

barbojoy

I have selected a facility for my mastectomy, chemo, hormone therapy and possible radiation. I still have to meet with plastic surgeon so that we can get surgery scheduled. Team recommends surgery first for me.

I do not want to work during treatment. My job is very stressful and I want to focus on health. I realize the privilege that I have to even consider this option, and I am grateful.

I know that FMLA protects my job (F/T -employed over a year & large company). I also know That I have short and long term disability coverage for qualified medical issues.

I’d like to hear from others who have jobs with Short term and long term disability who have opted-out of work, using those benefits for income during active treatment.

What do I need to consider, look out for, be aware of? If you took time off, how long did you take and was it a good decision? If you didn’t take time off, do you wish you had?

I’d love to hear your experiences and thoughts.

SpecialK

I was triple positive and also knew I would have surgery and chemo, and while I was node positive with a tumor larger than 2cm, surgery first was the predominant protocol when I was treated 10 years ago prior to the use of Perjeta. I also had FMLA, short term disability and long term disability available to me through my employer. I had a demanding job as well, direct involvement with patient care and was not certain whether or not I would be able to work during treatment. My original plan was to take six weeks to recover from surgery, then reassess and determine how to proceed. I have seen some people on this site use a rolling FMLA and take certain days off during chemo, which I think is more common if disability is not available either through their employer or their state. Rolling FMLA covers the time off without penalty, but allows earning to continue through working reduced hours. FMLA requires forms to be filled out by your docs - some offices do charge a fee for this, which I don't think is covered by insurance.

There are some differences in STD and LTD depending on the policies your employer contracts with. I believe the common percentage most pay is 60% of your base salary. It is also important to note that FMLA guarantees a comparable job be made available but legally does not guarantee the same job you have vacated. Certainly each individual's particulars determine whether their employer can and will hold your exact job - but I thought this was worth noting. My exact job was held open, but only because there were some employees displaced from one lab that was closing and their new lab was not yet open, so they were funneled through my position as it was essential to have a "warm body" doing that job while I was out. FMLA is 12 weeks long and has no connection to pay from your job - that is covered by your paid time off or sick leave if you have to use any, and the combo of disability plans available. My only concern for you is whether twelve weeks will cover all of your surgery, surgical recovery, and then chemo.

My short term disab was an elected benefit with a premium paid by myself, the long term disab was employer paid. The short term started 30 days after the start of absence, I had to use available vacation days in the meantime. I did not have a bank of 30 days saved up so there was a period where I did not receive any pay. Also, I did receive a monthly billing for the premium for the short term disability while I was off, since I was not earning any pay for it to be deducted from, to keep it active since it was an elected benefit. My health insurance was not through my employer, it was through my husband's, so I did not have to worry about any other normally occurring deductions.

I had a bi-lateral mastectomy with placement of tissue expanders, and bi-lateral sentinel node biopsies in my first surgery. Initially it looked as though my nodes on the cancer side were clear. Unfortunately that was not the case, cancer was discovered in the more thorough lab dissection later. Two weeks after the BMX surgery I had an emergency surgery due to skin healing issues, and two weeks after that surgery I had ALND surgery to remove levels 1 & 2 axilliary nodes. Several weeks later I was back in the OR for another skin repair, then finally about three weeks later a final surgery to remove the expander completely from the left side. FMLA was running during these surgeries, with short term disab concurrent.

By the time chemo and targeted therapy started I was out of FMLA, but had five surgeries so was not really in any shape to return to work. Because the new lab was still not open and there were available people to cover my role my employer held my job and offered an ADA accommodation that ran concurrent with long term disability. I started chemo in mid Feb and finished the first week of June, and returned to work 30 days after the final infusion. Long term disab covered that entire period. I was still receiving Herceptin every three weeks, and did continue that when I returned to work.

I was approached on the phone several times by the long term disab company encouraging me to file for SSDI during chemo. Due to my "advanced" age - I was 55, lol! - they thought if my employer wouldn't hold my same job I would be too old to learn a new one. This is a tactic to reduce the amount they have to pay, as they become a secondary payer if you take SSDI and are only responsible to make up the difference between what SSDI pays and the percentage of salary offered by the policy. I declined to file for SSDI and indicated I would be returning to work as planned, which I did.

In total I was off from Nov 1 2010 - July 1, 2011 and it was the right decision for me. If taking the time does not cause a financial hardship that would be more stressful than trying to work during treatment I would say do it - that is the reason these benefits are available.

Wishing you the best - I encourage you to keep in touch with your company plans administrator or HR person who deals with FMLA/disab. Mine were super helpful!

LillyIsHere

I was told to take my accumulated sick days and vacation days before applying for FMLA. I took 4 weeks off after BMX and 2 weeks off after breast reconstruction, then 3 days off after oophorectomy. I was covered from all the days I had saved. I realized I was never fully recovered when I went back to work and in my case, the silver lining of the pandemic was resting and sleeping.

FMLA is not a previlage, it is a right we should all have and all developed countries have it even better than us. We work and pay for FMLA.

barbojoy

Thanks SpecialK and LillyIsHere. SpecialK- your route w/ STD, then LTD is exactly the type of story/information I was seeking. I know many women probably have both benefits and use them during treatment. I am not sure if you know the answer to this or not, but if I run out of FMLA and my company doesn't offer the Leave of Absence ADA accommodation that you received, can the company discontinue my PPO medical insurance while I am still disabled? My STD/LTD is 60% and I have some savings, so I have $ to keep paying premiums while I am not working, but I doubt I could pay COBRA rates for medical, etc. if they stopped providing it due to my FMLA expiring and possible job termination. I know I should ask my HR folks and I will- plan to meet with them as soon as I have info on surgery dates but I figured the ladies here must have run into this before, so it's worth asking. It is great that your employer held your job and that you were able to go back in less than a year. I am sorry to hear about all the additional surgeries you had to have. That's really scary to me. I am dreading the MX & Reconstruct surgeries so much. I really appreciate your story and advice!