Dealing with Work and Time Off

[az062217vsg 40]

Hi all!

I have my 3 month diet appointment today with my primary care, and my EGD on Friday with my surgeon. I have been missing a couple hours of work each week it seems for pre-surgery related appointments (nutrition, psych, lab work, primary care, etc.). How do you handle communicating your time out of the office with your employer? They haven't asked me directly why I have so many appointments lately, but I can tell they are starting to wonder. Once I get through these appointments I'll be submitting to insurance, so surgery might be sooner than later. I am also worried because my boss recently said no one can take vacation for the next month or so because we have a tight project deadline. I am on a year to year contract so I'm worried they won't renew my contract if I go on leave for a week or two for surgery (contracts are renewed in June).

Any advice? How many days did you take off for surgery?

[Alfred Day 90]

I had a lot of appointments leading up to surgery as well. I made a decision early on to be open with my colleagues and supervisors at work about what was going on. I am also privileged enough that I have a lot of sick time saved up that I've never used. I ended up taking 2 weeks of sick time for the actual surgery.

With you being on an annual contract basis, you might want to weigh whether you think your boss will be supportive of you leaving for medical reasons. It would likely be illegal to fire you for having it done, but I don't know if they simply refused to renew your contract that you'd have much of a leg to stand on.

My opinion is if you're open about why you're taking the time off, you protect yourself a little bit. 1. They might be reluctant to cancel your contract on the off chance that you decide to sue them for discrimination and you win the case. 2. If you take all this time off and they don't know why, they could actually fire you for not showing up for work, and you won't have the defense of discrimination because you would have to admit you never told them the reason you were taking the time off.

[CocoNina 210]

If you don't want to tell them you are having a sleeve, just be general & say you have medical issues to take care of. I was General with my employer & co-workers. I'm keeping my sleeve a secret except to my fiancé & close friend.

I can take pain really well & only requested a week off work. I underestimated the pain I'd be in. Now I'm taking the full 6-weeks recommended off. My job is very physical too so it's safer for me to be off longer so I don't tear anything inside. If you have an office job, I think you would be able to work sooner, so I'd say 2 weeks off for a desk job.

I have no advice about the contract work since I never was in that position. Good luck!


Height: 5'0"
Weight for WLS consultation: 216 lbs.
Surgery date: 2/13/17
Goal: -71 lbs for healthy BMI (about 145 lbs).
Current weight: 185.2
My profile picture is not me. It's my "FITspiration" body.

[Nella Sonnitah 7]

During the weeks that you have your appointments, are you allowed to work later to make up the time? If so this would make your absence less noticeable. Also, instead of referring to it as vacation time, you could share that you need time off for a medical procedure. Considering the time you've been taking for appointments, this would be consistent. You mentioned that you are a contracted worker so it sounds like you may not have the FMLA protection.

Edited March 9, 2017 by Nella Sonnitah

[az062217vsg 40]

Hi all, thanks for the feedback. My employer does know I've been missing work for medical appointments, and I'm not just skipping out, I let them know and use my accrued sick time or work early or later (I have like 6 weeks saved up).
Also to take time off for surgery I would have to submit medical leave paperwork to HR, so HR would know I'm having weight loss surgery, just not my direct supervisor or coworkers.
I guess the main issue right now is the project deadline at work. I'll have to see how insurance approval goes and decide if I should wait for summer or have surgery ASAP.

[recreatingcate 132]

For HR purposes, I got a note from my doctor that I was there at such and such date and time. That way, it could be put into my file that I wasn't just skipping work to skip work. I also told my boss that I was having my gallbladder out because it was a new job and I didn't want to deal with the questions and judgements.

HR is not allowed to disclose what kind of surgery you're having to anyone else, including your immediate supervisor?

What kind of work do you do? I work a desk job with lots of traveling/driving (social caseworker for at risk youth), and I was out of work for less than a week. Only five "work days." My surgery went very, very well and was on a Wednesday (2/22). I was back to work the following Tuesday (2/28), and my doctor approved this. You might not have to take as much time off as you think.

[az062217vsg 40]

14 hours ago, recreatingcate said:

For HR purposes, I got a note from my doctor that I was there at such and such date and time. That way, it could be put into my file that I wasn't just skipping work to skip work. I also told my boss that I was having my gallbladder out because it was a new job and I didn't want to deal with the questions and judgements.

HR is not allowed to disclose what kind of surgery you're having to anyone else, including your immediate supervisor?

What kind of work do you do? I work a desk job with lots of traveling/driving (social caseworker for at risk youth), and I was out of work for less than a week. Only five "work days." My surgery went very, very well and was on a Wednesday (2/22). I was back to work the following Tuesday (2/28), and my doctor approved this. You might not have to take as much time off as you think.

I work for a college, and they have guidelines for medical leave, which I'm familiar with because I had back surgery a year or so ago (I was in a different office and position at the time, but same university). I can go directly through HR for all paperwork, so only HR would know the reason behind my leave. I would probably just tell my direct supervisor that I am having surgery and will go through HR with the paperwork for medical leave. I'm hoping to only be out for a week, and depending on what days my surgeon operates on I would like the time off to span a weekend so I miss fewer working days. I'll be seeing my surgeon tomorrow for an EGD, so if there is time maybe I'll pick his brain about when his patients are typically able to go back to work.

I'm probably stressing about this for no reason, and my employer would probably be more than OK with me missing work for surgery, it's just my first time in a year-to-year contract job, so that in itself is stressful because they can choose to not renew you without a reason.

[Kristi L 2]

I'm very worried about this, also. I have told my boss, as before he was my boss, he was a friend, and I knew he'd be understanding, but he does seem to be a little annoyed with how much I've missed already for pre-op appointments. I've never had any surgery before, so I have NO idea how this works, with HR and whatnot. My boss told me to reach out to them closer to when I have a surgery date, but I don't know exactly how long to put in for. My surgeon said it's safe to ask for a month, then can always come back earlier if I'm up to it. I work from home, at a desk all day.