Missed Days at Work due to Miscarriage

maggiemae87 · August 2011

Question for y'all, when you miscarried how much work did you miss? And how did you have to cover the time - sick time or vacation time? I am currently fighting to get to use bereavement time for the few days I was off but I was told it doesn't cover a situation like this, I pointed out that in the most technical of terms it is, and now am being ignored by my superiors in this matter. In my opinion, which I admit is emotionally biased, I lost a child and have been grieving. Loosing a child is covered under Bereavement time in my employee policy.

Can I get some opinions for this matter?

amyrdz522 · August 2011

I agree that it is bereavement, i am sorry that your superiors are being difficult. My boss gave me extra vacation days to cover the days i was gone (4) and i have 2 remaining days left for the year. I am only a part time employee so i believe it is very generous of him to do this for me. I hope you get it taken care of without a fight. I am also very sorry for your loss.

lindsey0710 · August 2011

Unfortunately for me my boss went ahead and put my PTO in for my missed days (our vacation and sick is combined) but come to find out if I would've taken off 5 days or more I could've used STD. I'd look into that

maggiemae87 · August 2011

What is STD? I was thinking of looking into FMLA but that is a losing battle.

lindsey0710 · August 2011

Sorry I'm so accustomed to acronyms at my job! It's short term disability, FMLA won't work until you've missed a lot of work.. at least that's how it's been described to me.

figgs0831 · August 2011

I baby was born still at almost 20w. I took 5 days bereavement and 5 days PTO and should have taken more. I was also given the option of taking a partial FLMA leave, but I turned it down.

In my opinion a loss at any time is a loss and would qualify for bereavement. However, if my loss happened earlier, I doubt my company would have given me bereavement time.

hopefulmom81 · August 2011

I missed 3 full days of work for my first loss and no time for my second. I used sick time, but I totally agree it is bereavement and that the policy svcks.

Sin_NIN · August 2011

I missed 3 days of work- that's all I could afford (and I really couldn't afford that).

I am a full time temporary employee and my temp agency does not provide sicks or vacation days and my boss where I temp didn't give me the option to make up my lost hours. It was a huge struggle both financially and emotionally. We are still trying to get caught up financially and now I have these "too soon" medical bills that are gonna be due and I don't even know how I am going to pay those.

petrpn1313 · August 2011

I'm so sorry you're having to deal with this right now on top of your loss. With my first loss I had to use a PTO for one day and a vacation day for the second day I was off because it landed the day before New Year's Eve which was a paid holiday for us. With my second loss I did not have to take time off because I work from home now and for the most part I set my own schedule. I hope you're able to figure this all out.

ella.mabel · August 2011

** ticker warning

I only missed 1/2 day due to the follow up OB appt. Everything else happened on a Saturday. I hadn't told anyone at work about my pregnancy, and didn't tell anyone about the miscarriage. I probably pushed myself back to work before i was emotionally.

Anyway..... as to your situation, I work as an HR Manager. I've honestly never been in the situation of giving bereavement leave for an early miscarriage because i think most people keep that information to themselves. However, if an employee came to me with this issue, I would certainly find a way to get them the time off they need, whether it be sick time or short term disability (which covers any absense beyond 6 days per our policy). Is there an HR person you can talk to? FMLA covers a "serious health condition" and gives you up to 12 weeks of leave. Not necessarily paid, but it allows you to take time off and have job protection for as long as your medically unable to work. (In order to qualify, you have to have worked there for 1 year and your employeer needs to have 50 or more employees at that facility). Maybe they can guide you through that process to see if you qualify. You would need your doctor to fill out a certification form that you need the time off from work. It sounds like your employer is being really insensitive.

Good luck to you. I am so sorry for your loss. ((hugs)) PM me if you have any questions or if i can be of any help to you.

PatientlyWaiting10 · August 2011

ella.mabel:
** ticker warning
I only missed 1/2 day due to the follow up OB appt. Everything else happened on a Saturday. I hadn't told anyone at work about my pregnancy, and didn't tell anyone about the miscarriage. I probably pushed myself back to work before i was emotionally.
Anyway..... as to your situation, I work as an HR Manager. I've honestly never been in the situation of giving bereavement leave for an early miscarriage because i think most people keep that information to themselves. However, if an employee came to me with this issue, I would certainly find a way to get them the time off they need, whether it be sick time or short term disability (which covers any absense beyond 6 days per our policy). Is there an HR person you can talk to? FMLA covers a "serious health condition" and gives you up to 12 weeks of leave. Not necessarily paid, but it allows you to take time off and have job protection for as long as your medically unable to work. (In order to qualify, you have to have worked there for 1 year and your employeer needs to have 50 or more employees at that facility). Maybe they can guide you through that process to see if you qualify. You would need your doctor to fill out a certification form that you need the time off from work. It sounds like your employer is being really insensitive.
Good luck to you. I am so sorry for your loss. ((hugs)) PM me if you have any questions or if i can be of any help to you.

all of this exactly. That being said, I asked my manager if I could use bereavement and she called our main headquarters to ask them. They told her bereavement is designed for family members to have time off to plan a funeral. in my case, there was not one, so I did not qualify. I think it totally sucks and should be covered, but it wasn't for me. I actually fwlt dumb asking about it, but I'm glad I at least tried...btw, I only took 2 days off. good luck, let me know if you have any more questions.

Mel_B09 · August 2011

I was likely and went on short term so I didn't have to use any vacation or personal days. I head back tomorrow after 30days off (this includes 6 days before D&C). It took me a bit to try to face reality and deal with disappointment. I know tomorrow is going to be a hard drive in. soo sorry for your loss and hopeful your work can work with you

Missed Days at Work due to Miscarriage

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