post op day 4 - h.r. is fair

Energy level: tree hugging marsupial
Pain level: 4- 6 pain killers: most appropriate name ever!

HR is kind enough to clarify that I am not accruing any vacation time or sick leave since my first missed day of work. He urgently needs me to fill out the Family Leave & Disability paperwork.  This paperwork is essential to protect my job.

Wow.

It hadn’t occurred to me that I was at risk of losing my job.

I am simultaneously assured and disturbed that I am being treated just like anyone else in this situation.

On one hand, the family and disability leave protects people from losing their jobs in the event of a family or medical emergency.  Hooray for government protections and equality! 

On the other hand, after dedicating 20 years of my life to this company, why should I have the slightest worry of losing my job?  I am really at risk of being replaced if I don’t file the correct paperwork?

Wow.

Yesterday’s note from the doctor was the total recovery time and I should be able to resume duties in a few weeks.  However, this verbal explanation has no weight.  HR needs facts and dates, not speculation.  He tells me that HR is not allowed to use common sense, only facts.

HR’s job is to uphold the law.  Nonetheless, I am shocked when he actually suggests that I camp out at the doctor’s office to get some paperwork singed.  I can’t move, but it is as though the condition doesn’t exist unless I have a doctor’s letter stating I’m bedridden. 

I voice my frustration in being the go-between for HR and the doctor and I tell him to call the doctor to get whatever he needs.  But…. his hands are tied.  Legally, he can’t contact the doctor due to patient/doctor confidentiality.

I feel like I am on planet Vogsphere from the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.