Work Update

The most recent drama that I've been dealing with at work is how we are going to make everything work out with the short term disability for my maternity leave. The admin over HR here at work suggested back in january that I keep my short term dis. so that I would get paid while off with the baby. I didn't even know our short term dis paid for that. So we kept it. I told her though that we didn't know if I would be returning full time after the baby. She said it was based off what my work status is prior to my leaving for maternity leave. So I didn't think anything of it. Ben and I recently decided that my last day of work would be June 30 so that I would have about 2 weeks to get readjusted back to a day schedule in preparation for the baby. Knowing that I wouldn't be returning full time, my boss, asked me to turn in a letter of resignation from my full time position with effective date of July 1. Once I thought about this, I realized that this would probably terminate my ability to receive short term dis. So after a lot of frustration and worry this is what the admin of HR told me to do.

"I spoke to the benefits person @ St. Thomas and she advised that we do not change your status from full-time to PRN until you return from maternity leave. Reason being, PRN have no benefits. What she recommended was that you take your leave, come back and work a few shifts, then change your status. That way, you are still classified as full-time and eligible for benefits while you are out."

Ben and I are both satisfied with this compromise. This ensures that I will keep my full time status while on maternity leave and that I won't have to pay back any of the short term dis payments due to some kind of confusion over my "status." I just have to make sure that my boss, Paul, is aware of what Genni and I have discussed. Paul really has no choice other than to agree with what we've decided because I'm still full time until I turn in that letter of resignation and they can't fire a pregnant woman without a major lawsuit on their hands. So now instead of being done working full time on June 30, I will have to work a few nights after my maternity leave. This will all be based on when my doctor releases me for work again. Short term dis pays up to 180 days. I know Ben would love to get the full 180 days but I don't see my doctor writing my short term dis for that long! So probably 12-14 weeks. We'll see. I'll talk to him at my next doctor appointment and see what he says. I don't really want to work a couple night shifts with Alli only a few weeks old but I'll do what I have to do to get the money. It just means that Ben will have to be off work those nights or we will have to rely on some help from family for one week. Ben and I were thinking one week of work would suffice to fill their "quota" of working a few shifts before turning in my notice of PRN status. So anyway...one stress checked off my list...