Hello! I followed Reddit advice and had a lot of success so far being off work for 7 months. HR finally said the 'T' word- Termination. Is there anything else I should try before letting them terminate me?
18 years at my employer as IT team manager; typical situation- understaffed, overworked, underpaid, premium quality A*hole boss. I had a lot of personal and vacation time banked up, all my time off has been paid for from my banked leave.
August '22, asked psychiatrist for time off work for burnout, extreme stress, depression & anxiety, he approved and sent FMLA paperwork directly to my HR department.
September '22, asked psych for and was granted an extension of FMLA to November. Psych emailed ppwk directly to my HR guy. I followed all doctor's orders, including attending groups, etc.
November '22, requested to continue being off work. Psych applauded me for being assertive, suggested I apply for short term disability. I emailed HR guy and said my medical condition (still never shared with employer) was covered by the ADA and that I would need leave through January '23. Applied for STD. HR guy made a mistake and put my return date as the date when all my leave would be used up, Feb 15.
December '22, approved for STD. Requested HR department reduce my pay to 40%; just enough to cover my deductions (healthcare, retirement, etc.), allowing me to utilize the STD $ and use 60% less leave, putting the date all my leave would be used up out to May '23.
Feb '23, psych agrees I can still be off work. I emailed HR guy to say I would not be returning Feb 15.
Just received a reply from my HR guy summarizing this entire leave history plus 3 paragraphs about how hard it is to be without 1 middle manager, then stating if I am not released for work and return by February 23, they are terminating my employment and benefits as of Feb 28, '23.
I realized too late I am a cog in their machine. I am 2 years from retirement. I have anxiety & depression. I know I should have quit, long ago. My self-esteem was too low to find another job when I should/could have. Thanks for not beating me up too badly over this.
My end goal would be to stay employed as long as possible to keep myself and my college daughter covered with health insurance…without ever going back to that abusive situation. I plan to sell my house and get myself fully free, but I still need a few months to get that all done.
Thoughts? Suggestions?
Thank you for reading all this and for your time replying!