Paid FMLA leave after shoulder surgery?

[FatChance]

First, this is not a hobby, but there are a lot of smart people here. I have to get orthoscopic surgery to fix two torn rotator cuff tendons that will require 6 weeks of my shoulder being immobilized and in pain. Should this qualify my wife to get paid FMLA leave from the hospital, where she is a Cardiac cath lab nurse, to care for me? I know there are a lot of "what ifs", but does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing?

 

[captaincaution]

First, this is not a hobby, but there are a lot of smart people here. I have to get orthoscopic surgery to fix two torn rotator cuff tendons that will require 6 weeks of my shoulder being immobilized and in pain. Should this qualify my wife to get paid FMLA leave from the hospital, where she is a Cardiac cath lab nurse, to care for me? I know there are a lot of "what ifs", but does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing?

FMLA is typically unpaid leave. The hospital may offer paid leave, but federal family leave is unpaid.

 

[The Milk Man]

FMLA leave provides 12 weeks of non-paid leave to employees or family members of employees with a qualifying medical condition. If your Dr certifies that your wife needs to care for you, take you to visits, etc. Then yes she should qualify for FMLA leave. She will need to ask her HR department for what forms they require and their process for leave. Your wife's employer may have a program that pays employees while out on pay, but that is separate from FMLA. Her employer may also require her to take vacation concurrently with FMLA leave. The statue allows companies to do that and most companies around me require that of their employees. Especially if the leave is for care of a family member.

 

[Gyro25]

I thought FMLA is for the person having the surgery, but I could be wrong. Many states now have job protected leaves (not necessarily paid but they may have that as a benefit as well), where you take a leave to care for someone else, but there are requirements

For example in NJ, we have NJFLA & NJFLI.. the A is the job protected time, and the I is the insurance/payment from the state.. 85% of the salary and then the 15% comes from our pto.. ill be taking my 12 weeks for child bonding time


I don't know if you recovering from surgery will fulfill the requirements for her to get 12 weeks away though

 

[The Milk Man]

I thought FMLA is for the person having the surgery, but I could be wrong. Many states now have job protected leaves (not necessarily paid but they may have that as a benefit as well), where you take a leave to care for someone else, but there are requirements

For example in NJ, we have NJFLA & NJFLI.. the A is the job protected time, and the I is the insurance/payment from the state.. 85% of the salary and then the 15% comes from our pto.. ill be taking my 12 weeks for child bonding time


I don't know if you recovering from surgery will fulfill the requirements for her to get 12 weeks away though

FMLA also provides leave for the care of others in certain circumstances. As an example a parent can get leave to take care of a child or an adult child can get leave to take care of a parent. As a HR professional I could go down a FMLA rabbit hole with everyone but I will spare the board from that.

 

[FatChance]

Thank you for the helpful information. Her hospital, in some circumstances, does offer 66.7% pay during FMLA leave, but we are just starting the process (surgery is in three weeks) and she is submitting the application tomorrow. We are trying to educate ourselves, but the information we have found is confusing, at best. One other employee there does get that partial pay for on-going intermittent FMLA leave to care for a child with mild autism, so there is some precedence. We realize that level of assistance will be an uphill battle but we want to explore all options because I will have some challenges.

 

[The Milk Man]

Thank you for the helpful information. Her hospital, in some circumstances, does offer 66.7% pay during FMLA leave, but we are just starting the process (surgery is in three weeks) and she is submitting the application tomorrow. We are trying to educate ourselves, but the information we have found is confusing, at best. One other employee there does get that partial pay for on-going intermittent FMLA leave to care for a child with mild autism, so there is some precedence. We realize that level of assistance will be an uphill battle but we want to explore all options because I will have some challenges.

FMLA is confusing, however if she has a good HR department they ought to be able to help her through the process. My guess is the 66.7% pay is some sort of short term disability program. Alot of companies will run STD programs and FMLA concurrently to help their employees get some money while off. Good luck with the surgery. Feel free to pm me if you have any specific questions and I will do my best to answer them.

 

[PatsFan]

First, this is not a hobby, but there are a lot of smart people here. I have to get orthoscopic surgery to fix two torn rotator cuff tendons that will require 6 weeks of my shoulder being immobilized and in pain. Should this qualify my wife to get paid FMLA leave from the hospital, where she is a Cardiac cath lab nurse, to care for me? I know there are a lot of "what ifs", but does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing?

Sorry to hear u need surgery, I have had both done already and lifes good.
YES she should be able to collect if she is taking care of you. You need to look at the law in your state.
I know in MA you would be covered.

Best wishes on the upcoming surgery's best advice is to follow your doctors orders and MAKE sure to do the rehab.

 

[Gyro25]

FMLA is confusing, however if she has a good HR department they ought to be able to help her through the process. My guess is the 66.7% pay is some sort of short term disability program. Alot of companies will run STD programs and FMLA concurrently to help their employees get some money while off. Good luck with the surgery. Feel free to pm me if you have any specific questions and I will do my best to answer them.

I looked into it as well and yes the FMLA should work out for that, and the STD will fill the gap since fmla covers just the 66.67%. I think she would need a letter from his doctor saying he will be immobile and will need the assistance of family etc


Btw if you happen to understand the BS of FMLA/state disability in regards to public school employees, I'd appreciate another opinion. My wife is going out after tomorrow for pregnancy and I feel her school has a messaged up system for these leaves. It's totally frustrating haha

 

[Daluteh]

I also work in the HR field. I don't disagree with anything people said here. FMLA in and of itself is unpaid job protection. Whatever pay you get would be based upon your employer policies or external coverages.

Just make sure your doctor puts that you would be incapacitated and would need assistance. If that's true it shouldn't be an issue, if it's kind of true the only recourse they would have is to pay for another medical opinion.

@greekelite what exactly are you wondering? FMLA always covers child birth and it also qualifies under ada as a disability. Is she going out to give birth or just to notify?

 

[Gyro25]

@Daluteh she got fmla, but in NJ we also have NJFLA (12 weeks protected leave) + NJFLI (the disability insurance covering 85%) of her pay.. the state law has it written that someone can take fmla for 12 weeks, THEN the FLA for ANOTHER 12 (or use it anytime in the baby's first year).

Her school is saying they start the FLA on the day of birth, so it runs concurrently with FMLA. so she is essentially losing ~6 weeks of leave. It just doesn't make sense to me and we've tried every avenue with her union and school board, as it goes against the state law. But supposedly their contract are written in a way where it's ok

 

[Daluteh]

Does it go against the state law or is the state law just an option? Just because something doesn't need to run concurrently didn't mean it can't.

Has your wife called the Mac or whatever the union uses for members? What is the precedent for previous members of the union that have gone on a pregnancy or birth leave?

 

[Daluteh]

Briefly looking at the state laws, nothing says that they cannot run concurrently. @greekelite

There are multiple .com and .org sites that say they they can and often do run simultaneously. Looking at it that way, you would need to present the argument that members of the union have taken them separately for the same exact scenario in order for it to even be considered a potential issue. Depending on the writing of your cba you may not even be able to do that depending how good the negotiations were on the employer side.

Just doing a smell test, you are out of luck unless you can show many more details and examples than what has been presented here.

 

[FatChance]

Just a quick update. My surgery is next Friday and my wife just heard that she has been approved for 12 week FMLA time off to care for me, but it will be unpaid. If she were to be taking off time from work for some issue of her own, she would also get the 66% short term disability pay while out on FMLA time off. The 12 weeks will cover 6 weeks of my initial recovery and 6 weeks of physical therapy.

She can cover a small number of shifts if she wants and the hospital can't fill the shifts (over 4th of July for example). She can also end the leave at any time to go back full time if she feels that I am sufficiently recovered. All in all, a pretty good situation.

 

[Molten]

Just a quick update. My surgery is next Friday and my wife just heard that she has been approved for 12 week FMLA time off to care for me, but it will be unpaid. If she were to be taking off time from work for some issue of her own, she would also get the 66% short term disability pay while out on FMLA time off. The 12 weeks will cover 6 weeks of my initial recovery and 6 weeks of physical therapy.

She can cover a small number of shifts if she wants and the hospital can't fill the shifts (over 4th of July for example). She can also end the leave at any time to go back full time if she feels that I am sufficiently recovered. All in all, a pretty good situation.

Glad it worked out. Navigating a situation like this often leads to these types of outcomes (I know it did for me). Good luck!

 

[FatChance]

It usually pays dividends to educate one's self on the legal process and rules, then work through the appropriate channels. My wife's boss is none too happy (due to the hospital's awful personnel allocation and (mis)management), but the law is setup for exactly this type of situation. In regard to this forum, her leave should help get me back on the golf courses before Labor Day! At worst, I will miss golfing during the heat of central Arizona's summer here in Sedona.