What is the name of your state?
Arizona
Not sure where to start, I guess with my initial leave. I was hired in October of 2003, in Febuary of 2004 I took FMLA to have my daughter. I was off on FMLA according to my employers records from 2/16-5/10, interesting thing about that is that my daughter was not born until 2/18. I did, however, miss work on 2/16 due to a death in the family. Then on October 26 of 2004 I had to have surgery for Cervical Cancer, this was to be an outpatient surgery with me only needing a few days off. However, due to complications I was unable to return to work for a couple of weeks. Initially this was listed as me taking two days off that week and the way I was scheduled I had 10 days off in a row, so was not due back to work until November 2. However, I was unable to return to work until November 8. I am currently looking for a copy of my schedule to confirm this, however, I believe I was not scheduled to work that week until November 12. My employer insisted that I fill out FMLA paperwork for this leave and has my leave dates listed as October 25 (which I was not scheduled to work on) until November 12 (but I was released to go back to work November 8, just was not scheduled until November 12). Concurrent with my surgery I became very ill with constant diarrhea and vomiting. I did return to work on November 12 as scheduled, however, have continued to be very ill and under a doctors care with unfortunately frequent lost work days. I was diagnosed with Giardia and so far physcian's care has not resolved the problem. Due to the frequent call-in's, my physician and I discussed taking short-term disability until the issue was resolved. I called my employer and discussed this with them and requested that they fax me the paperwork for short-term disability which I had been paying into since I started my job. The short-term disability requires that I be an employee for 1 year and that the issue is not a pre-existing condition. I was also told they would send me FMLA paperwork with the disability paperwork, however, the fax never came through. This was requested on December 29. I called them back on January 4 and asked that they refax the paperwork as I had not received it. At that time I was told that I had used all my FMLA and I had two options, to come back to work or take voluntary termination with eligibility for rehire, it was decided since I had a physician's appointment on January 5 that I would get back in touch with them after the appointment to discuss which was a feasible option. I was told in the meantime that they would fax me the paperwork for short-term disability and for COBRA. My physician had an emergency that day and had to reschedule my appointment. On January 6 I called my employer again and asked about the paperwork as it still had not been received and informed them of the change in the doctor's appointment. At that time I was told that they did not fax the paperwork as I was being terminated if I did not return to work and since they did not know if I was returning they were not going to send me the short-term disability paperwork. As of this date, they have not terminated me, the last thing I was told is that my direct supervisor is out of town until January 11 and they will get back to me when she returns. My questions are these:
1. Can they refuse me that short-term disability paperwork legally? The way I see it is when I requested that paperwork I was still classified a fulltime employee with benefits as such.
2. Am I entitled to take the short-term disability even if I have used all my FMLA? I was not aware that it was required that you take FMLA to be qualified for short-term disability.
3. Can they refuse my short-term disability claim if they terminate me, as the illness began and paperwork was requested from them while I was still classified a fulltime employee with benefits?
4. Lastly, as part of my fulltime benefits I have long-term disability also, if they terminated me while/if I'm on short-term disability, does that mean if the illness persists that I cannot take long-term disability?
Any input on these questions would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
Arizona
Not sure where to start, I guess with my initial leave. I was hired in October of 2003, in Febuary of 2004 I took FMLA to have my daughter. I was off on FMLA according to my employers records from 2/16-5/10, interesting thing about that is that my daughter was not born until 2/18. I did, however, miss work on 2/16 due to a death in the family. Then on October 26 of 2004 I had to have surgery for Cervical Cancer, this was to be an outpatient surgery with me only needing a few days off. However, due to complications I was unable to return to work for a couple of weeks. Initially this was listed as me taking two days off that week and the way I was scheduled I had 10 days off in a row, so was not due back to work until November 2. However, I was unable to return to work until November 8. I am currently looking for a copy of my schedule to confirm this, however, I believe I was not scheduled to work that week until November 12. My employer insisted that I fill out FMLA paperwork for this leave and has my leave dates listed as October 25 (which I was not scheduled to work on) until November 12 (but I was released to go back to work November 8, just was not scheduled until November 12). Concurrent with my surgery I became very ill with constant diarrhea and vomiting. I did return to work on November 12 as scheduled, however, have continued to be very ill and under a doctors care with unfortunately frequent lost work days. I was diagnosed with Giardia and so far physcian's care has not resolved the problem. Due to the frequent call-in's, my physician and I discussed taking short-term disability until the issue was resolved. I called my employer and discussed this with them and requested that they fax me the paperwork for short-term disability which I had been paying into since I started my job. The short-term disability requires that I be an employee for 1 year and that the issue is not a pre-existing condition. I was also told they would send me FMLA paperwork with the disability paperwork, however, the fax never came through. This was requested on December 29. I called them back on January 4 and asked that they refax the paperwork as I had not received it. At that time I was told that I had used all my FMLA and I had two options, to come back to work or take voluntary termination with eligibility for rehire, it was decided since I had a physician's appointment on January 5 that I would get back in touch with them after the appointment to discuss which was a feasible option. I was told in the meantime that they would fax me the paperwork for short-term disability and for COBRA. My physician had an emergency that day and had to reschedule my appointment. On January 6 I called my employer again and asked about the paperwork as it still had not been received and informed them of the change in the doctor's appointment. At that time I was told that they did not fax the paperwork as I was being terminated if I did not return to work and since they did not know if I was returning they were not going to send me the short-term disability paperwork. As of this date, they have not terminated me, the last thing I was told is that my direct supervisor is out of town until January 11 and they will get back to me when she returns. My questions are these:
1. Can they refuse me that short-term disability paperwork legally? The way I see it is when I requested that paperwork I was still classified a fulltime employee with benefits as such.
2. Am I entitled to take the short-term disability even if I have used all my FMLA? I was not aware that it was required that you take FMLA to be qualified for short-term disability.
3. Can they refuse my short-term disability claim if they terminate me, as the illness began and paperwork was requested from them while I was still classified a fulltime employee with benefits?
4. Lastly, as part of my fulltime benefits I have long-term disability also, if they terminated me while/if I'm on short-term disability, does that mean if the illness persists that I cannot take long-term disability?
Any input on these questions would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.