Federal Employee on bed rest... any options?

[Anonymous]

I was placed on modified bed rest yesterday. My employer is saying I can only work from home 2 days a week and have to take 3 days of sick leave. Anyone else have different experience? Do I have any options?

[Anonymous]

call OPM

[Anonymous]

Are you a bargaining unit employee? If so, contact your union.

I don't think that your employer has any obligation to allow you to telework, however.

[Anonymous]

I'd be interested to see what you find out. I've been on bedrest for 9 weeks, just put on hospital bedrest and the best option I have is to take all my leave, already gone. and then apply for the Voluntary Leave Transfer Program. It too me 8 weeks to be approved. I was unable to work form home because I deal with sensitive information with individuals' identifying information. I'll be out a total of 6 months and I have to say, I'm glad to know I'll have a job when I return. Can't say that would be true if I worked for the private sector.

[Anonymous]

Does your organization have a leave bank or other options? I would contact HR

[Anonymous]

i agree with one of the PPs who said contact OPM. Also see if you can go higher up your chain of command; perhaps you'll get a different answer. At my agency, you got a different answer from different people and even that seemed to vary by day, mood, etc.

i do however agree with the other PP who said they are under no obligation to allow you to telework. perhaps though some deal can be struck where you can work more days. FYI one of my co-workers has cancer and she had to take sick leave for all of her treatments ... she's been through the voluntary leave transfer program twice too, so while this is a royal PITA it's not just aimed at pregnant women.

so sorry this is happening to you. i hope your employer will be a bit more reasonable with the telework. it is SO frustrating how federal agencies are so dismissive of pregnancy and maternity leave-related issues.

[Anonymous]

Your agency has a telework policy and although your manager is not obligated to allow you to telework at all, or any certain number of days, they must either accept or reject your request. If they reject it, they must explain why. Your reason for teleworking is your business and not part of that consideration. Read and go over that telework policy carefully and then put in your request; my manager refused to give mine to HR and I had to alert HR so they would either accept or reject instead of just sitting on my request. Don't be afraid to talk to your own HR person; most agencies have a telework coordinator. I found out who my telework coordinator was on GSA and she was valuable in explaining how to get a copy of the policy and next steps. Check out http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/channelView.do?pageTypeId=17113&channelId=-24630
Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Makes me so glad I work in the private sector. M employer said if I'm in the least bit uncomfortable to work from home. I work for a small company of 15 people and even though they are under no obligation to follow FMLA and I don't have STD, they are still paying me 3 months maternity leave. The government is so screwed up.

[Anonymous]

My agency also has that frustrating telework policy where no one can telework more than 2 days a week. I don't know of any way around it. Sorry.

[Anonymous]

not to hijack, but the gov't maternity policies are the worst. all we have is fmla (3 months unpaid) and accrued sick/annual leave. my husband, in the private sector, gets paid paternity leave, while I do not. Between his paternity leave and accrued annual, he is able to take 2 months off!

[Anonymous]

i left the government because they dont have paid maternity leave. i only get 6-8 weeks paid now (plus vacation, but i only get 10 days), but its better than nothing.

[Anonymous]

You're not entitled to telework. But, as someone who does, I don't understand the general resistance. Wish more employers would be more open-minded to this, esp. if the job allows for it and in these situations.

I'm not sure what good calling OPM will do. The policies are what they are.

You could ask for FMLA, use your leave, ask for advanced sick leave . . . and, definitely apply for the voluntary leave transfer program. Some agencies are doing leave banks now. But not all and I'm not sure how that works, exactly.

Good luck. Sorry for your situation and that your boss is not being understanding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: The government is so screwed up.

I don't believe this is true every where in the government. I work for the Navy and I was treated very well through both of my pregnancies. I was there a few years before baby #1 so I had more leave than I needed. I worked up until the end of the pregnancy and returned to work 9 weeks post partum.

Fast forward to baby #2 born 4 months ago. We normally TW 2 days/week, but I was constantly asked by my boss if I needed to go home to get some rest that I could TW additional hours. Also, I wrote up a special TW agreement that gradually increased my hours for returning to work after this baby. I ended up needing surgery 6 weeks after I had this baby so I didn't end up working as many hours as I originally planned and they were okay with that also. I still wanted to go back to work at 9 weeks but was told by my boss that I could TW as much as I wanted for as long as I wanted. He wanted me to try to make it in for staff meeting as such but that was it.

Maybe you could write up some type of schedule for TW and put in writing what would be expected of you reporting-wise so that everyone is comfortable that you are really being productive at home. good luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i left the government because they dont have paid maternity leave. i only get 6-8 weeks paid now (plus vacation, but i only get 10 days), but its better than nothing.

22:17 again. Is this the only reason you left a job with the government? That seems a little odd. Pregnancies (unless you are the Duggars) are a very short time in your life compared to a life-long career. I believe I get more time off in general with the annual leave and sick leave that we can accrue than most do in private sector. Long-term quality of life is really important to me in my career since I have 2 kids and the government job I have now provides that easily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i left the government because they dont have paid maternity leave. i only get 6-8 weeks paid now (plus vacation, but i only get 10 days), but its better than nothing.

22:17 again. Is this the only reason you left a job with the government? That seems a little odd. Pregnancies (unless you are the Duggars) are a very short time in your life compared to a life-long career. I believe I get more time off in general with the annual leave and sick leave that we can accrue than most do in private sector. Long-term quality of life is really important to me in my career since I have 2 kids and the government job I have now provides that easily.

Actually, it was a really big part of it. Its sort of out of principle though. I TRULY believe it is disgusting that in the US there is no standard maternity leave. We're the only developed country with these policies and its no wonder that we have some of the highest maternal and infant mortality rates out of developed countries. I was there for almost 6 years, though I was never one to accrue a lot of time (also broke my hip and was out for awhile, so that used up a lot of what I had). It was a bit more of a commute than my current job, but it was a comfortable position I was leaving (though I'm glad I made the choice now, I had no idea what I was about to encounter).