Hey all. Some info first: I work in New Jersey, an at-will state, at a county jail but am not a county employee. I am a psychiatric social worker. There are 8 of us on site every day. My particular position is non-crisis meaning, if I’m not there one or more days..my coworkers are not impacted nor do they complete any of my work.
My situation: I am diagnosed with major depression and while it’s relatively managed by a psychiatrist & therapist and I work hard at my wellness & self care, there are days where I struggle and need to step back. This is something I cannot predict. At previous jobs, I’ve simply called off on the occasion where I needed t, always using my PTO and supervisors have understood (bare minimum shared). Ideally, I’d like to be able to use my PTO at current job if I need a day but psychiatry doesn’t work the same as primary care or urgent care. Ya can’t just call up your psychiatrist or therapist and expect to be seen that same day, like if you need to see your medical doctor, go to an urgent care or minute clinic for a physical illness like a virus or covid, infection or injury.
Context: My company requires any unexpected call off, either 1 day or multiple days, to have documentation by a medical professional or some sort of professional (see my post history where a large tree crushed my car as I was driving; I had to show my job proof of pics & police report as ‘proof’ that I wasn’t coming in next day).
My question is this: how can I use my PTO for an unexpected mental health day? Is FMLA my only option?
I’m familiar with FMLA but it’s unpaid. The upside is that if I activate it, submit all necessary paperwork…I can’t be penalized from taking unexpected time of. MH falls under the various reasons why someone could use FMLA.