Afraid work will make me delay surgery......can they?

[Mary2016 55]

I work in the healthcare industry and I am an RN who works in an office job in home care. I review documentation related to reimbursement and our quality rating, and complete icd10 coding of the charts. My job is directly related to our financial reimbursement. We used to have 6 people doing the job and they continue to whittle us down, now at 2, of which I am one. They know we can't keep up, the work load is enormous. They are in the process of increasing the department workers again, but we have been "talking"'for about a year. Ugh

My concern....I don't want to tell them why I will need a medical leave because I am afraid they won't see it as necessary right away and may make me wait, or ask me to wait, until they can hire more people. And I don't want to wait because they have been dragging their feet forever. Once they hire, it will take some time before the person is up and running. And the position has yet to be posted.....still waiting. I want my health and I don't want to postpone surgery waiting for them to correct the mess at work. That could be forever. I want 3-4 weeks off. I want to adjust to having surgery and adjust to my new life, getting diet and exercise under control. If I go back after a week, they will find no solution to my work load and will just leave it all for me. I can't recover from surgery working 10-12 hour days trying to catch up.

So, my question.....can they make me wait? I know HR will know the reason for my surgery, can my HR department delay my surgery? I tend to be an upfront honest person, but if I tell my boss I really think they will pressure me to delay. Going through all the pre op requirements, come April/ may.... I am going to be ready. Any advice out there?

Edited February 27, 2016 by Mary2016

[DaisyAmy 561]

I really don't know. I know, for my work, all I did was send a note from the surgeon saying I would be out from date X to date Y. No comment on what the surgery was and I never had to justify it.

[Support Sisters 19]

Do you get FMLA? Then they can't stop you and job is protected. Make up another reason why you need surgery (emergency gallbladder is a good one or something gynecology no one will ask more questions) Work does not need to know your business.

[AvaFern 3,516]

No, your office does not get to tell you when you can have surgery. If you're leaving for a week to have surgery, which is really all the time you need off, you are allowed to use your PTO however you choose. If you have the 3-4 weeks you want off saved in PTO, the same applies. They don't have to give you paid time off if you don't have those days banked, but they don't get to tell you whether or not you can have surgery. You don't even need to tell them you're having surgery- it's none of their business. Past that, you should fall under FMLA, so if you don't have the PTO days, then you can take off without pay for the time you need. Again, the specifics of your surgery are none of their business. If they give you a hard time, tell them that you will be happy to have your attorney contact them.

[animallover1247 249]

If you can use FLMA, yes, I'm pretty sure the above posts are correct. FMLA is a federal law, they can't deny you leave for a medical condition, whether it's an optional surgery or not.

The only issue you may run into is regarding your desire to not let your boss know WHY. I say this because on the FMLA forms, your doctors address, phone number, etc is required. If he is strictly a bariatric surgeon and you have nosy people in your office, it won't be hard to figure out.

Additionally some of the questions, depending on how the doctor's office fills them out, may give away your secret as well. You can let your surgeons office know to give the least information possible but there is a section on there that asks about symptoms, diagnosis, etc.

Because of the circumstances of your job situation, if you can use FMLA, that is what I would do. It cannot be denied. They will have to figure out how the work will get done on their own, not your worries. However, I don't know the rules if you would want to take vacation, pto, annual leave or whatever type of leave your company grants.

[Miss Mac 6,261]

I agree with the others. Don't let them give you a guilt trip either. If you had a stroke, or a car wreck that put you in traction in a rehab facility for months, the work would still get done some how.