@qork Are you sure that’s how it works? STD doesn’t usually require PTO exhaustion.
There’s often an elimination period, which is an unpaid period where you’re disabled but not eligible to receive benefits. 7 calendar days is a common duration, but the elimination period can be 0 days, 14 days, or other durations. Typically, you can use PTO to still get paid during the elimination period, but you shouldn’t have to exhaust PTO. And typically, if you don’t have enough PTO to cover that period, it will be unpaid.
So if your date of disability is Thursday and you have a 7 day elim period, you will be unpaid Thur through the following Wed. You could use your PTO for any of those biz days. Then your STD benefit kicks in that Thursday and continues for x weeks. Keep in mind the elim period is part of the disability period, so if you get 6 weeks, it’s 6 from the date of disability, even though you only get benefits for 5 weeks.
Your policy could work differently, but it would be very uncommon to require you to exhaust PTO before STD kicks in. Leave is a different policy, so your Leave could require PTO exhaustion while STD does not.