What should we do if injured and doctor gives note not to return to work for 30days? Injured tendon off duty. Do we request short term disability or leave of absence? Never done this and is there a number we call? Store manager is aware and given the doctor note but never said anything to us about filing out any forms. Its now been 3weeks and no pay and just realized being union I probably can be getting paid during this time instead of struggling financially and borrowing money to help me through.
What should we do if injured and doctor gives note not to return to work for 30days? Injured tendon off duty. Do we request short term disability or leave of absence? Never done this and is there a number we call? Store manager is aware and given the doctor note but never said anything to us about filing out any forms. Its now been 3weeks and no pay and just realized being union I probably can be getting paid during this time instead of struggling financially and borrowing money to help me through.
Contact your union and he, sounds like you should be on short term disability. Kroger is s crooked company they will not tell you that you can collect disability, quit wasting time on here and call union they can help you.
If you are injured you can request medical leave be it on the clock or not. On the clock is different and actually better as your employer must cover it. By law they must adhere to it.
You are allowed to take fmla leave to take care of your self or family members. This is a u.s. state law it should not vary by state. Kroger requires you to use up your vacation pay first then sick pay. Hopefully you have some savings saved up. Most states have fmla pay as well. You might qualify. If longer than 15 weeks it counts as a short term disability and you qualify for food stamps after that.
Health insurance with kroger is 1+ months out. So after the second month you might loose it. I think they finally removed the fine for oboma care if you failed to have health insurance on your taxes. Which is good as it was illegal/controversial to begin with. The idea was great but the forced 5k fine was wrong.
Give your note to the store manager and enjoy your 30 days off. Hopefully you have savings or sick pay you can use. Or can mooch off of someone fora while.
If it's over 30 days then it's leave. Short term just means they can't work you until you're scheduled to return to work. Hopefully you have savings to tide you through, sick pay + vacation pay to allow you some income. To spread it longer you can ask for like 25-30 hrs a week. The sooner you let them know the better because the have a chance of actually filling in the shifts. Instead of no one being their and your coworker(s) get to share your work load.
I was recently diagnosed with mild osteoarthritis in my left rotator cuff, and the orthopedic doctor's note said to basically put me back to work the next day with restrictions and they'll re-evaluate me in 4 weeks. Of course my manager tells me straight up that I had to take a leave because they don't do "light duty" or cater to "restrictions" on lifting. So I go through the dumpster fire headache sized amounts of paperwork and numerous phone calls to Metlife and our union to file claims and get with my family doctor for recommendations on orthopedic doctors and physical therapists and all that for short term disability, since it was only 4 weeks til I would see the orthopedic doctor again and find out if I was fine going back. I'm even taking physical therapy for this so hopefully I won't need surgery. I even paid 25 bucks for someone else to do the FMLA paperwork at my orthopedic doctor's office since she apparently doesn't deal with that. That someone wasn't there during my appointment so they weren't getting the full story. My doc knew Kroger wasn't going to cater to that note she gave me, she could have agreed to a leave but she didn't even put that in her doctors note. Sending me back to work the next day with a bottle of anti-inflammatory pills and saying "See ya in 4 weeks" was not going to solve the problem, especially after finding out how bad it is from my physical therapist.
Just when I think everything is fine, and my paperwork is finally all in and done, Metlife calls me and tells me that since the doctor didn't say anything about going on a medical leave but Kroger did, they're going to reject my claim. I can't do anything until the doctor lifts my restrictions, Kroger won't let me work with restrictions and that's why I am taking physical therapy right now. Apparently Metlife is holding up any chances of me getting any benefits(even from union) until my doctor approves of this leave. If I get rejected by Metlife then I have no protection from job loss or anything, even though I just want to cancel because this company is crap anyway, it was a hassle dealing with them and if they reject my claim this will be an unauthorized leave which will just make things worse.
I'm spending 4 weeks dealing with these people instead of trying to relax and concentrate on recovery so I can go back to work.
Go to your dr to get an excusal note. Go to store give it to manager on duty. The manager will let you fill out a loa form for the duration you request.
Having continued to work with minor off the clock injuries I highly encourage time off if you can. It will assist healing faster. Instead of working on it and causing healing to take five times longer.
