Sick leave or vacation for FFS?

[Brenda E]

Given the fact that for many of us, FFS is not merely cosmetic surgery but a necessary part of transition, is it possible to take sick leave for FFS rather than saving up vacation?  What were your experiences with the whole sick/vacation issue?

[missymay]

I saved my vacation time, and took a month off to recover, complete my name change, and other things that would allow me to go full-time when I returned to work.

[Violet Bloom]

  My employer's health plan will cover a reasonable percentage of time off for a medical leave for FFS.  They may end up covering some of the costs of medical supplies for the surgery too which would help make up for lost wage percentage, so I'd prefer to go that route.  The medical leave is also somewhat open-ended whereas vacation time is finite and I'm not really supposed to be carrying a four-week backlog of vacation hours anyway.

[Brenda E]

Interesting.  Thanks for the responses.

I like the idea of using the downtime recovering from FFS for getting the transition-related paperwork in order.  That's a perfect time for a name change so I can hit the ground running when I return to work.

[Bimmer Guy]

Since I was physically unable to work due to "medical reasons" (no one can work after any kind of surgery), I was able to use my sick time.  It didn't matter that it was for a trans* (top) surgery, the point was I was unable to work.  Will your surgeon give you a doctor's note?

[Brenda E]

Hmmm.  An interesting work-around.  I suppose sick leave can always be used for self-inflicted "injuries" like surgery.  Kind of like asking for forgiveness rather than permission

[Violet Bloom]

  In my workplace a medical leave actually begins with three sick days before the health plan kicks in the wage supplement.  We can only accrue six days worth of sick time maximum at any time so it wouldn't be enough on its own to cover the whole leave in my case.

[Julia-Madrid]

Hi Brenda

A couple or three observations for you:

From your other posts on FFS, for the things you're presently contemplating fixing you may not need much down-time.  If your company permits remote working, this will be very useful.  I was working from my hotel room during my convalescence 5 days after FFS.  I'll concede I was not running at 100% efficiency, but the small rest breaks you may need are close enough to water cooler breaks, so you're getting similar efficiency overall and can justify it well enough.

It also is valuable to establish a relationship with a few senior people in HR at your company and to carefully think about how to manage your interactions with them.  HR often have to apply judgment to absences, and it's vital to demonstrate a desire to minimise any absences. For every problem I bring to HR, I also proffer a solution, and generally mix my vacation allowance with an agreed formal sick leave period.  For SRS I also offered HR that I take unpaid leave, and received the response of "Ooh, that's not necessary -we'll give you sick leave."

Finally, companies are often much more willing to be flexible if you time your absences well.  My SRS will have me out of circulation during July and August, which are quiet times for my role in my industry.

Regards
A/J

[Brenda E]

My main problem is that I don't generally sit behind a desk in an office environment, and have no work that I could take home or undertake remotely.  I'm either at work, or I'm not; there's no opportunity for any intermediate levels of productivity to lessen the impact of me being gone for two or three weeks (not that I'd be missed, but still).  I feasibly could spend a few days post-op pushing paper, but luckily I'm blessed with an employer where sick leave accrual generally isn't a problem - I have plenty to use.  It's just using it that can sometimes be tricky.  But like you point out, it's a matter of being open and up-front about what's going on, and planning ahead so that it's as non-disruptive as possible.

I worry that someone in the sick leave approval process will see "plastic surgery" or similar written on a piece of documentation, and say, "Hold your horses, Brenda.  You can't use sick leave for a nose job.  It's for when you're actually sick.  Request denied."  I guess the workaround - as once again you wisely point out - is to use vacation time if need be.  No excuse needed for that.

[Violet Bloom]

  I am saving vacation time just in case someone tries to throw a wrench in the works.

[ImagineKate]

Common consensus here is that any long period of time off for medical reasons can be taken as disability. We can also do a leave of absence.

But both options are less than optimal because you don't get paid your full rate.

It really does vary by company though.

I am not sure FFS would be covered as medically necessary. But this is somewhat uncharted territory. Most of the surgery stuff for disability accommodation for transgender has been for SRS.

I would use vacation as your fallback plan. Save up as much as possible. I get 21 days a year plus I can carry over 5 per year.