Hello everyone,
I usually hang out at the "Back Problems" health board, but thought I would ask this question here as it kinda relates to disability. I work for the State of Kansas, about 4 months ago now I have been unable to work due to severe back pain. I am scheduled for a level 2 lumbar fusion surgery Jan 10th. I am currently receiving no income at all. I have used all my sick leave and vacation leave due to this problem. We have (as a benefit) a program called "Shared leave". I am positive that other states have this benefit for thier state workers as well. Anyway the way it works is that a qualifying employees can apply for this benefit if they have exhausted all thier leave, and "is experiencing a serious, extreme, or life-threatening illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition." If the employee qualifies they are eligible to receive donated leave from other State employees. I always thought of this as an excellent benefit considering the waiting periods and qualifications of SSD and LTD. It allows the employee to not worry about things like food, electricity, rent, health insurance etc...
Well I applied, I was sure I was going to be approved considering my situation and the surgery, recovery time etc...
But I was denied! When I called the Department of Administration and asked why, I was told they don't have to give a reason! What?
I was told by someone in the department that they are really tightening up on who gets approved, and unless you have a terminal illness, you will be denied. I do not understand it at all.
I am sure most of you know that I must be disabled for 12 months to be considered for SSD, and the LTD through the state requires 6 months of disability. So what does one do in the mean time?
Is there anyone out there that has a similar program at thier employment, and are the standards the same? Not that it makes a difference, just want some reference from other people in this type of situation. Sorry this is so long, and I hope it makes sense to everyone.

Porter:confused:

I work for the State of Florida. I have not worked since December 7, and not sure when I will be going back to work as I have DDD and arthritis in my neck and back. I am currently on my last week of earned leave. We have 2 different ways that you can received leave after you have used all your earned sick and vacation leave. One is they send an email request and people can donate sick leave. I am not sure if there is certain qualification to receive sick leave this way. The other way is known as a sick leave pool. With the sick leave pool you had to have joined it and donated sick leave to the pool as needed. I know with the sick leave pool you have to fill out a request form and so does your doctor and you have to be approved. I am going to request time from the sick leave pool but my supervisor and another supervisor stated that they know of several people that have plenty of sick leave and will probably donate it to me. I guess I will just have to wait and see how the whole system works. I hope it does work because can't afford not to have money coming in.

Let me know how you are doing.

CraigN