Anybody been on sick leave due to bipolar?

Ok... I'm starting to freak myself a bit. ... had a panic attack yesterday in part of this... so I'm just gonna ask.... I was put into a partial hospitalization program.. I'm there at the hospital 6 hours out of the day. Dr stated I could not work an off shift and still go to php..(something I couldn't of done anyway as these 2 weeks has been too much as it is including on 3 day blackout.. another story) I been calling my employer off and on but sick leave is done by a separate company.. hr says should be no worries.. talked to them again today. . My wife says stop worrying and to calm down because if they did deny us we could sue them to death basically... I got young children and I don't like risking my job. .. this is me.. haven't missed this much work by far ever before... (roughly 4 weeks I'm going to be off)... so yah.. anyone with experience in this dept..?

P.s. we have way more then the 50 employee minimum to cover that end.. I'm also in a union.. (really doesn't change things much.. don't want them to fend for me if at all possible.. like my union but I'd rather just stay within the guidelines of the workplace of the company.. just don't want to test my luck)

well not sure how your job works, but if hr says it is ok, you should be ok. you are covered by the ADA as well.

my job we have sick leave and that is what I use when I have to take time off. my boss has required that I take leave on two occasions when I have been manic, so I take a week off and take lots of Haldol to bring myself down and work hard at behaving myself when I come back...lol.......take care

I'm also union, I took off 3 weeks for a manic episode after hospitalization your company may have a sick and accident insurance that allows you to still get compensation while out of work. Check into that and good luck.

Yeah they have similar insurance... sick leave I've done before when I had pneumonia and missed 2 weeks of work a while back.. just never used sick Leave for BP (have used fmla but that's not paid this is)... so I have of the world thinks mental illness is a joke... just didn't know if sick leave insurance covered it or not.. never done this before

You should be fine

I've been on med leave a million times. As a matter of fact I just came back to work from being off for 2 1/2 months. I am also on intermittent FMLA every year so when I have bad days and can't function. I don't know how each company is or the laws are across the board but I am allowed 480 hours of intermittent FMLA in a rolling 12 month period. Without having this I would have lost my job a long time ago. You have to realize that mental illness is considered an illness just like any physical illness. This is what HR told me when I first had to deal with this stuff. It would be discrimination if you were denied because it is a disability.

I did FMLA while I was in hospital acouple times then when I decided I might need to leave that job...I took the rest til I ran out.

I went out on short term disability a few times when I worked. HR should be correct. You'll be ok...you can't loose a job for a medical necessity. Make sure to provide a very generic doctors note to HR. Good luck!

In my last "real" job, I got sent home a couple of times when I was so manic I couldn't behave myself at all. The next year I had a mixed episode so serious that I had to take 3 weeks of medical leave in lieu of hospitalization, and when I got back I fell apart again. Next thing I knew, I was called into the director's office and terminated because the company "couldn't" give me the accommodations my pdoc requested, and I couldn't do the job without them. End of story.

I suppose I could've fought them, but I was too ill and dispirited to undertake what I knew would be a bruising battle. Companies have offices full of lawyers who know how to get around the ADA and screw employees out of their jobs. I didn't have a chance and I knew it.

Sorry to be a Debbie Downer, but going out on sick leave with bipolar is fraught with peril. I wish the OP all the best; maybe you'll be luckier than I was. I hope so, anyway.

I have been on FMLA for the past year. When I need to take a week here a day there I use FMLA hours. If you are full time and been employed for 1 year with the same company your job is safe .

If your employer has a different company handling medical leaves you should have no problem. Technically that company doesn't have the authority to tell your employer why you are out. If they (the outside company) approves you they are only "allowed" to release the approval notification. That has to do with confidentiality rules. Now if you have to have special accommodations those have to be released to the employer because those can't be approved by the outside company.

I just did not show up for work. This may have gone on for a week. I did not use my sick time. But that was an outstanding company to work for.

I just called a sub and up and left my classroom. My husband called HR and they said to first use my sick days and then the FMLA. I was allowed to take a two year leave as long as I sent a letter every semester. When I found out I could not come back, I went on disability through the school district. It was handled as any other illness.