I needed surgery a year ago, so I submitted my FMLA paperwork because I was going to be out of work for 6 weeks while I was healing. Everything went well, and it was approved and I was elegible for temporary disability insurance and everything, I was psyched.
When I got a little bit closer to my surgery date, I had to book a plane ticket since my surgeon is on the other side of the country (I’m still on my parents insurance so for anything other than emergencies I have to go to back to California). So I booked my flight and asked for an extra couple days off so I could fly out before having surgery and being on bed rest for a month. I even got people to cover my shifts since I was booking this kinda last minute (about a month prior).
So I was fucking shook when the bastard denied me my PTO. I called my boss and he told me that I could just not show up in which case they’d fire me for since it would be multiple no call no shows, or else I could reschedule my flight+surgery. Turns out you needed to submit PTO requests 2 months ahead of time and my old boss has just never cared. It didn’t even matter that I had shift coverage, it was just my new boss being a complete asshole.
Long story short, I got my surgeon to update my FMLA form so I could make my flight, which was great since I didn’t have to use PTO, and my coworkers who were going to cover me didn’t have to show up – so I got my time off I needed and my shifts ended up being short staffed just because my boss was being a dick.