High-Risk Pregnancy
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What are/did people do about bed rest, STD, and FMLA
Just curious....
I have been on STD for two months, beginning at 20 weeks gestation. As per law, FMLA kicked in at the same time. Since I get 12 weeks FMLA that will obviously run out before the girls (I'm having girl twins) get here, if not shortly after. I am 29 weeks now and obviously want to make it as long as I can.
For those who have been on extended bed rest and disability, how did your employer handle this? My STD benefits give me 10 weeks disability for maternity leave which will officially start 2 weeks before the girls are born (they'll just start it retro-actively, which in effect means I get 8 weeks after they are born), but obviously I have no job protection or unpaid leave available.
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Re: What are/did people do about bed rest, STD, and FMLA
The law actually allows your employer to choose how to apply FLMA: concurrent with STD or not.
I got my STD for bedrest, then a seperate STD for after delivery, then 12 weeks of FMLA after all of that.
Yes. Unfortunately that is pretty rare; most employers do it concurrently.
Did anyone else's employer do it this way, and how did you cope with it?
My disability is separate from my fmla. I have 2 months paid at 100%, 4 months at 60% and then long term. I went on bedrest at 28 weeks and stayed there until 35 weeks when I had my DD. I started fmla the day after I had her and also continued mt disability for 8 more weeks. I did not have to return to work until dd is 6 months old however we need $ so I am returning after the new year
talk to hr. If you are in a decent sized company I am sure they have handled this before
I work for a large hospital here is what happened to me.
I was put on bedrest at 20 weeks and my STD and my 12 weeks of FMLA started then (concurrently...boo)
So at 32 weeks pregnant my FMLA and my STD ended and for whatever reason they didn't see being pregnant and on bedrest a disability since I was denied long term disability. I have no idea why? I never got a straight answer from HR reps.
So I had to file paperwork for an extended leave of absence that had to be approved by my supervisor in order to stay employed by the hospital and thankfully she approved it. If she would have denied the leave then the hospital would have let me go. I wasn't protected by FMLA anymore so I lost my senority and was moved to another unit from staffing changes.
I'm sorry you are dealing with this too. I pretty much knew when I was put on bedrest that I would lose my position in the unit because FMLA is only 12 weeks. I still wonder why my long term disability didn't kick in after my STD was over.
By the way, I had to go back to work after 6 weeks (vaginal delivery) because that is all my employer would grant me with the extended leave of absence. I had planned on having 12 weeks after his birth.
It didn't go so well with my first pregnancy. I went to work anyway and ended up with near disaster. I had to take unpaid time, and ultimately lost that job. It was a horrible place to work, though, and I found a much better job. I have union protection, and I can take up to a year's leave of absence after having a baby (unpaid). I don't get much paid leave (just the sick days I have saved), but I bought a private STD policy about a year and half ago. It will pay both before and after delivery. I'm hoping this pregnancy is less dramatic, but I've planned for the worst this time.
The one thing I need to find out is if I become responsible for paying the employer part of my medical insurance if I'm out on leave for a long time. If I am, we'll probably need to switch to DH's coverage.
Thank you.
I did contact HR and hopefully they will get back to me shortly. According to their memos, all FMLA and state plans, along with paid disability run concurrently. But we'll see what they tell me.
I am a teacher and this is what happened when I was pg with DD.
I was in the hospital at 29 weeks due to high BP. I was released on complete bedrest. I didn't have STD, so I started using my sick days. I had 8 weeks worth of sick days and that covered me until the birth. Then I was able to use FMLA to keep my benefits for another 12 weeks. I took a leave of absense of the remainder of the school year. They knew ahead of time that I was going to take the year off.
The no paycheck thing was rough, but we managed. This time I am dreading having to go on bedrest. I only have about 4 weeks of sick leave saved and since I am only teaching part time I don't have STD again. Hopefully the meds will work this time and I can keep working until DD is born. Then I take my 12 weeks, go back for 2 weeks, and then have the summer break.