I had to go on FMLA today. The Family and Medical Leave Act in the U.S. basically guarantees your job will still be there if you have to go on extended medical leave. You don’t get paid, you just don’t get fired.
So now we will be on a single income for the foreseeable future. I wish I lived in a civilized country where I would be covered in this sort of situation, but instead we’ll get deeper in debt because we won’t be able to keep up with the medical bills.
I hate it. I hate it so much. I don’t expect to get paid indefinitely if I was away indefinitely, but the only pay I will get is that the two days of paid time off I had saved up will be spent on this, so when I do come back, I’ll have nothing left for the rest of the year.
I don’t even blame the people I work for. I blame the system that they’re a part of. Why should they pay for my sick time if no one else does? I get that. It just sucks and is yet another bullshit part of living in America.
I had to go out on fmla several years ago. They only gave you 90 days officially, but since my boss liked me they waited till 120 to fire me. The other fun part is that short term disability only gave out a fraction of my income, AKA, not enough to pay rent & eat and stuff.
If your insurance has any sort of short term disability insurance, check it out. It’s pennies, but it’s better than no pennies.
It doesn’t unfortunately.
God, fuck that. I hate this for you.
It’s so stupid. If this was Europe this wouldn’t be happening.
My Australian friend really puts it into perspective. Their benefits are accolades beyond anything USA will ever have in our lifetime. I hope the union movement really ramps up here lately so we can have some semblance of betterment.
My boss shut them down on my overages and it was just in time to get my meds fixed.