Filing For Extended Work Absence / Disability: How to maximize approval chance?

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My company goes through Sedgewick (https://www.sedgwick.com/). If I get approved, I can get up to 4 or 5 months off (with partial pay). I'm currently planning on going to Birkholtz in South Africa, who asks for 4 months for distraction phase to hit 8cm (.75mm a day).

How would you word this sort of request in the claim for time off? Or what details would you include / exclude when requesting? It's a serious surgery, but it's cosmetic, but it's also fixing a mental issue.

Thanks a ton, team.

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@bid133: okay, so HR is the big hurdle. This is really good to know. I already told my manager about this, which might have been a mistake. He was supportive, however-- in fact, he was the one who directed me to the medical leave / partial pay process. I am far more concerned with getting the time off than the pay, so if HR can label this a medical LOA rather than just some sabbatical, that would be fantastic. I would not be able to get some plain sabbatical until 2026, probably.

@Activatedxx: I had a consult with Paley and he said there were no deformities I can try another consult with another doctor and see what they say. What's the sign of a rotational deformity? Like walking with toes pointed out?

@darksol64: These claims / health insurance companies are insanely rich and definitely not the paragon of virtue or fairness. They are not some community friendly, non-profit charities. They are lucrative businesses. As such, I feel zero guilt over stretching the truth to get compensated by them. Also, yes, where I live (coastal US), I feel short and this has bugged me my whole life, so I am solving it.

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For PTO do you mean accrued Sick Leave PTO or Holiday PTO? And I'm guessing this was just between you and your manager and HR / director level-- so you didn't have to tap into some "extended leave" request?

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Quote from: Activatedxx on December 04, 2024, 07:40:05 AMIf you’re just taking an unpaid LOA it might be easier, but getting approved for short term disability for cosmetic is a long shot if your doctors honest, and you will need to grant access to medical records.

When you say "short term disability" being a long shot for cosmetic, are you also including unpaid medical leave?

It looks like I'm allowed to apply for both paid and unpaid short term disability leave, with LOA being a different thing (mental, grievance, etc).

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TLDR: Everything looks technically sound for unpaid medical leave (5 months off). Next step is find a local US doctor who will sign my application (Birkholtz is in South Africa and most likely cannot sign waiver that expects US physician).

Okay so update:

My work has non-medical LOA, paid short term disability, and non-paid short term disability (the latter two work in parallel with FMLA). As for time-range, if approved, I will get up to 26 weeks off. I've already chatted with my manager, told him all the details of the leave (was honest), and he gave me a thumbs up and a thanks for the ahead of time notification. I understand getting his approval wasn't necessary, but I have a good relationship with him, and I'd prefer to leave on a good note.

Now, Dr. Birkholtz wants me at his clinic for 5 months (4 months for 8cm distraction, 1 additional month to monitor transition to crutches), which falls inside that 26 week window. So we're all set there.

My next step is to find a local doctor who will write a letter approving me for leave of absence, as Dr. Birkholtz does not have a US Medical license.

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Quote from: Activatedxx on December 06, 2024, 10:13:36 PMJust curious. If you’re from the US, why don’t you just use a US surgeon? Birkholtz charges 62k for femurs, which is about what Assayag charges (if you do one leg at a time it’s outpatient and you can save some hospital fees). Also, they have a non profit medical housing here that is 15$ a day. I assume you would be paying much more to buy a ticket and hotel/airbnb there

Birkholtz is an all-in package with a stay-in clinic-- no airbnb issues, and tried-and-tested caretakers already panned out.

That being said, I had no idea about Assayag's medical housing-- I assumed every place in the US would require you do your own set up with airbnb and caretakers. I'm definitely going to go visit him for a consultation in this case. Thank you for the rec!

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Ah also nutrition was a factor. The food is already prepared and included with Birkholtz. I need to ask more about how that works.

With other doctors, I am curious how most people handle purchasing and preparing food if doing this solo.

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How does one cook from a wheelchair? Or are people leaning over on their walkers to cook?

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How is staying in the HP house otherwise then?