I hope I can find some help here.

I am pregnante and am due Jan 6. I work for a large company (a direct auotmotive suplier) and have signed paperwork for FMLA time. I am currently working part time due to Dr. orders.

A couple months ago I had a hernia repair surgery. At the time I had already submitted my FMLA paperwork to cover aney time I may have to take for my pregnancy. I was off work for 4 weeks due to the surgery. During this time they charged me full FMLA hours while I was on Short Term Disability (STD) for the surgery. The hernia was not pregnancy related. I even saw a Dr about it before I became pregnante.

When I asked the Human Resourses (HR) rep. about this they told me that it is their policy that when ever you have surgery or something to that nature it automatically falls under FMLA time and they run side by side and you do not need to fill out paper work to have FMLA instated.

Yet nowher in the employee guide book under their STD policy does it state aney connection to the FMLA law for general surgery/time of. And it also doent have aney other refrence to the matter.

And I am wondering if I am being charged FMLA hours against the law.

And also my Dr. gave me a restriction for sit down work. My company could not accomidate this restriction so I was not able to work. Then they denied me STD saying I was not disabled. I was told that "they cannot tell me to come back to work because of the Dr orders but if I don't come back it could become an attendance issue"

My only option seamed to have my restrictions lifted to allow me to work part time. Though now I am getting charged 20 FMLA hours a week for the time I am not there. Nor am I recieving aney STD benifits for the time I am not working which it states in the guide book that I am eligable.

At the rate they are charging me FMLA hours I will run out around Thanksgiving when I am not due till Jan 6!

The company is downsizing and I feel I am being pushed out due to all of this.

I do understand that the company can choose to run FMLA and STD at the same time but i still feel I am unjustly being charged hours.

Sorry this was so long but thank you in advance
Rachel G

And I am wondering if I am being charged FMLA hours against the law. No. Your employer is in complete accordance with the law. You are entitled to a total of 12 weeks of FMLA in each calendar year/rolling 12-month period (depending on how your employer has elected to track it) in total for all leave time due to a "serious health condition." That includes your hernia surgery as well as your upcoming pregnancy leave. You are also working a "reduced leave" schedule right now due to your part-time hours per your doctor. All that time may be charged to your FMLA time too.

STD (short-term disability) has nothing to do with how much leave time you are entitled to. STD is solely an income replacement benefit that is part of your employer's group health plan. While an employee on FMLA leave is often eligible for STD benefits, that's the extent of what they have in common.