My supervisor didn’t say I was ok to take the day before my planned c-section off…?

[internetimm362]

@dobichlan18 Was the doctor a man?

 

[dobichlan18]

@internetimm362 Yes, but it was his office that handled paperwork requests. The office staff was entirely female, and there were around 10 MFM specialists in total there, male and female.

I think it was more of a bureaucratic situation where everyone was being very literal, which resulted in things not connecting to common sense.

 

[bulbul1234]

@dobichlan18 I sooooo hate that this happened to you!

 

[yafethtb]

@dobichlan18 If you are under pre-surgery restrictions (don’t eat for 8 hours, rest, whatever) then depending on the rules you can use that to get the pre-Surgery day as PTO or part of short term leave or FMLA. My doctor wrote out a prescription plan for me ahead that had me prepping the day before including a go/no-go remote appointment. That day got wrapped into my FMLA.

 

[orachii]

@qork Good luck on the day off and the c-section!

 

[qork]

@orachii Thank you!!

 

[theodor98]

@qork

Thank you!!

You're welcome!

 

[hypocrites]

@qork Definitely depends on where you live and what company you work for. For example, when I took short term disability, it had no bearing on my PTO so it was all fully in-tact and I even accrued PTO while on disability leave. My company sees the two separately though I understand legally companies can require you to exhaust PTO before leave kicks in.

 

[mmoran]

@qork I would, I'm in US,FL and had a scheduled C-section for the Wednesday after labor day..
To not lose PTO days I had to use them not necessarily before mat-leave, but by the end of the year.

So I burnt out what I could while I could travel and then used 2 days for Tuesday and Wednesday (day of procedure) which was back dated by insurance after the fact and I got the one day added back to my PTO since the procedure was early enough in the day but insurance needed the hospital to send info first.

It being directly up against my mat leave ment nothing, a lot of people do this so they can save their leave exclusively for their baby life adjustment and bonding time.
All that said, definitely talk to HR and also call your insurance company as well.. they can explain details from their end that pertain to your policy.

 

[maggie428]

@qork is this america??? that sounds so dystopian - a future parent in america

 

[judy123]

@qork I agree with NaturalEmphasis. She might have had a question about FMLA that she wanted to confirm with HR before giving you direction.

I’d just check back in and ask what the status is.

 

[walwinter]

@judy123 This was my thought. At my company I could have used vacation days prior to going into labor but I could not start FMLA early. And given my due date was right before Christmas, there were no vacation spots available as they were booked up.

 

[qork]

@walwinter Yes, so this would be my taking vacation PTO prior to my leave starting. This was a plan I had run by the insurance company that handles short-term disability (since my company doesn’t have a paid maternity leave policy and FMLA is unpaid) and our HR rep, and no one seemed to have an issue with it. Just when I brought it up to my supervisor.

 

[walwinter]

@qork Your supervisor may just be panicking a little and trying to buy time to think of solutions since the department is in a bit of a crunch. Which is not a you problem (until they make it a you problem)

 

[racarvalho]

@qork Here in Texas, if you’re taking the day prior to your delivery off for a reason related to your pregnancy, it would cause FMLA to kick in. I don’t know where you are but this is similar in many states. When they say you must exhaust all your PTO, they mean that you will lose your PTO during FMLA. You’ll still get paid for those days, but they will run concurrently with the unpaid FMLA. So since you have 4 PTO days left, you’d start FMLA the day prior to your delivery (Wednesday), which would also shorten your postpartum FMLA duration by one day. The first 4 days of your FMLA would also simultaneously be PTO days, so you’ll get paid for those 4 days before the unpaid leave kicks in. If you have any sick days, same with those, once PTO is exhausted the sick days would run concurrent with the next X number of FMLA days, and you’d run out of those for the rest of the year as well. Short-term disability has a waiting period, so once that’s over, then STD kicks in and provides some financial relief, again concurrent with FMLA. You may have local laws or company policies that add on to it, but these are the basic logistics of FMLA in places (like where I am!) that do not have separate parental leave laws. FMLA applies to ANY time off taken due to the pregnancy, even before you deliver and even if you’re using PTO for that time, so you can’t say “I am just taking a vacation day to prepare for the baby,” and not have it also be counted as FMLA, if your company follows these federal rules.

 

[ikuis]

@racarvalho This a great explanation - thanks! I’ve always wondered about the difference between PTO and how it’s counted with respect to FMLA. Is this an honesty thing? Could OP have said “I’m taking Wednesday off because I need to shampoo my hair” - you know, a reason unrelated to the pregnancy? And then the 12 weeks of FMLA doesn’t “kick in” until Thursday as planned?

 

[racarvalho]

@ikuis Yep, exactly. A good manager might decide not to hear the reason for an absence request, but technically a company can always dock FMLA if they are aware. Having worked for a company in the past who would do so, even for example going to a prenatal doctor appointment during a scheduled lunch break can be counted against FMLA leave time!!

 

[lu1991]

@racarvalho If I read that correctly (and it’s been a long day so maybe I didn’t) that is only partially correct.

FMLA has a “begins on” date. That day can be adjusted but generally it takes a doctors note to make it start earlier.

Once it’s approved, you have the next 12 months from the start date to exhaust it so if you took 4 weeks, went back to work for 2 weeks, you could go back out again using it up.

Ex: if you apply for it to start Aug. 1st, go into labor July 27th, your doctor would have to write a note or HR would verify with them and it would be approved to start July 27th retroactively. If it was approved fpr AUG 1st and you went into labor Aug. 5th, and worked till the 4th, they would push the start date back. If you just decided to not show up in July 31st because you felt like it but FMLA is approved starting Aug. 1st, it’s not part of leave it’s calling in or using a vacation day or whatever.

What it boils down to is LOA laws are absurdly complicated and the US treats working moms (and parents in general) like garbage.

Plus, most states have their own set of laws. Cali is a bit ahead of most but still nowhere near as good as most of Europe.

sorry for all typos and grammatical errors, I’m exhausted and don’t have the energy to fix them

 

[magica]

@walwinter Same. It was 12 weeks FMLA and they were very strict about that. Even an extra day off would be a hard no. I had to use all PTO as part of FMLA so it wasn't even an option to use that as extra time off before thr 12 weeks started.

 

[samanthakyp]

@judy123 Yup, this was my first thought too. I recently had surgery and had to travel 3 hours away for it since there wasn't a specialist in my area. I couldn't take the day off before because FMLA would only cover the day of surgery beyond. Guess I was supposed to teleport. I ended up working a weekend and flexing. They made me go back 4 days after surgery as well even though I was in no shape to be back at work because the doctor was a middle aged man who thought I was faking my pain and should just jump back in.

I'm glad we have the bare bones protection we do in the US, but man I hate how it works out in practice.