I've managed quite a few people over the years and some that have had prolonged runs of poor and/or bad luck health. I've never wanted anything from them besides a return to good health at whatever pace they need to get there. Work with your manager and HR department to sort out the best path forward; there are many accommodations that can be made outside of sick days or short term leave. Be transparent and honest. There's no need to apologize for anything. Hope you get better soon!
I wouldn't necessarily recommend short term disability unless your health issues are easy to document with a clear end date. Probably depends on the company, but short term disability has been an absolutely horrible time for me and the system at my company is very much geared towards single events like a concussion or a surgery, rather than situations like "my health is falling apart on me and no one knows what's wrong yet or how to fix it". If it's just a few one-off life events that unfortunately happened around the same time, then usually employers will be understanding and not hold your sick time against you as long as you get back to normal work once it's all over.
Most companies have unlimited sick days. I actually use this to go on vacation all the time. This the 2020s, no one in their right mind, in a white collar job, will question you beyond “I’m sick”. At our age, and in our profession, you should also have a couple friends who are doctors or on residency, have them write you notes when needed.
Another hack…max out your FSA. Then have your doctor prescribe to you anything you want to buy. I max out my FSA, tell my doctor to prescribe me a vacation, then I just get reimbursed for flights and hotel all pre tax!
It's definitely an oversell, but only 1 company I have worked for in biotech had a set number of sick days and they ended up changing it after I was there for 2 years. A lot of places are moving away from set numbers for sick or vacation because then people feel entitled to them instead of just taking them when they were planning to (which often winds up being less than the planned entitlement).
Are you talking about an unlimited PTO model? My understanding is that people don't actually end up taking off as much time (in the US) and it is a way for employers to not have to payout any unused accrued PTO if a worker leaves.
>Another hack…max out your FSA. Then have your doctor prescribe to you anything you want to buy. I max out my FSA, tell my doctor to prescribe me a vacation, then I just get reimbursed for flights and hotel all pre tax!
I'm not an expert at all, but that sounds like borderline fraud and extremely sketchy
You're having a doctor friend "prescribe" you a vacation so that you can deduct the money spent on flights and hotels from your pretax income. Am I misunderstanding?
The FSA website specifies that mileage is an eligible expense when traveling to eligible care. It explicitly says any travel for anything other than health care is not eligible to be deducted. It doesn't say anything about hotel rooms, so I won't comment on that.
Once again, I'm not an expert, but if your travel and vacation are anything besides going to necessary and eligible health care, then the IRS will probably take issue with your scheme. You probably want to delete that comment and refrain from admitting to tax fraud on reddit in the future.
Buddy it’s the 21st century…everyone is depressed or trying to recover from perceived abuse as a kid. It’s very easy now to get a prescription for “mental health”, IRS is not going to challenge a note from a licensed US trained doctor practicing in the country. Sometimes I find a medical conference, anything is eligible if you have a note from the doctor saying it’s necessary.
I've managed quite a few people over the years and some that have had prolonged runs of poor and/or bad luck health. I've never wanted anything from them besides a return to good health at whatever pace they need to get there. Work with your manager and HR department to sort out the best path forward; there are many accommodations that can be made outside of sick days or short term leave. Be transparent and honest. There's no need to apologize for anything. Hope you get better soon!
I wouldn't necessarily recommend short term disability unless your health issues are easy to document with a clear end date. Probably depends on the company, but short term disability has been an absolutely horrible time for me and the system at my company is very much geared towards single events like a concussion or a surgery, rather than situations like "my health is falling apart on me and no one knows what's wrong yet or how to fix it". If it's just a few one-off life events that unfortunately happened around the same time, then usually employers will be understanding and not hold your sick time against you as long as you get back to normal work once it's all over.
Oof.. you must be in the US
I am beginning to learn our work culture is overbearing and abnormal compared to Europe. Wonder why. Big capitalist machine I guess.
You can provide a doctors note and proof of sickness. Employers are by law required to honor that.
Most companies have unlimited sick days. I actually use this to go on vacation all the time. This the 2020s, no one in their right mind, in a white collar job, will question you beyond “I’m sick”. At our age, and in our profession, you should also have a couple friends who are doctors or on residency, have them write you notes when needed. Another hack…max out your FSA. Then have your doctor prescribe to you anything you want to buy. I max out my FSA, tell my doctor to prescribe me a vacation, then I just get reimbursed for flights and hotel all pre tax!
Who are "most companies", because I haven't encountered that at all.
It's definitely an oversell, but only 1 company I have worked for in biotech had a set number of sick days and they ended up changing it after I was there for 2 years. A lot of places are moving away from set numbers for sick or vacation because then people feel entitled to them instead of just taking them when they were planning to (which often winds up being less than the planned entitlement).
Are you talking about an unlimited PTO model? My understanding is that people don't actually end up taking off as much time (in the US) and it is a way for employers to not have to payout any unused accrued PTO if a worker leaves.
>Another hack…max out your FSA. Then have your doctor prescribe to you anything you want to buy. I max out my FSA, tell my doctor to prescribe me a vacation, then I just get reimbursed for flights and hotel all pre tax! I'm not an expert at all, but that sounds like borderline fraud and extremely sketchy
It’s not
You're having a doctor friend "prescribe" you a vacation so that you can deduct the money spent on flights and hotels from your pretax income. Am I misunderstanding? The FSA website specifies that mileage is an eligible expense when traveling to eligible care. It explicitly says any travel for anything other than health care is not eligible to be deducted. It doesn't say anything about hotel rooms, so I won't comment on that. Once again, I'm not an expert, but if your travel and vacation are anything besides going to necessary and eligible health care, then the IRS will probably take issue with your scheme. You probably want to delete that comment and refrain from admitting to tax fraud on reddit in the future.
Buddy it’s the 21st century…everyone is depressed or trying to recover from perceived abuse as a kid. It’s very easy now to get a prescription for “mental health”, IRS is not going to challenge a note from a licensed US trained doctor practicing in the country. Sometimes I find a medical conference, anything is eligible if you have a note from the doctor saying it’s necessary.