Why I'll Rot in Hell
A coworker of mine, S, was diagnosed last year (2005) with breast cancer.She went through chemo and lost her hair but kept her breasts. That's an ending I'll take, right? Hair grows back, breasts...not so much.
Short-term disability requires only one week of vacation time spent before kicking in at our company (is that a nationwide requirement?). If you're on STD, you also continue to get paid for the time away. It's a pretty sweet deal, if you ignore the whole reason you're on STD in the first place.
S has been with the company for 15+ years. Our company gives you 4 weeks combo vacation/sick time per year. At your 5th anniversary and multiples thereafter, you get an additional week. So for people like S, she gets a minimum 7 weeks vacation/sick time a year.
That's important to know because, as S was on disability for the roughly 7 months she was battling cancer, it only cost her one week of her yearly vacation time.
Which meant when she came back into work, just before Thanksgiving, cancer-free, she still had three weeks of vacation time left to use or lose.
No one wants to lose vacation time, especially around the holidays, sooooo she took the time off.
In between decking the halls, she also broke her wrist. Not just any break - the kind of break that requires surgery and 6 weeks recovery.
So, yes, she's back on disability.
I have no heart. I am a capitalist pig and I'm in favor of big business (to a degree). I'm glad that S was able to recover in as much time as she needed; I'm glad she and her family didn't have to worry about income during her time of need; and I'm glad she's now healthy and in remission.
However.
I also find the benefits to be excessive and outrageous. Yes, if I had to utilize them to that extent, I'd be writing something different. But since so far I haven't needed that much disability, and haven't had something that serious to deal with, I continue to think that - outside of the cancer - it was a pretty sweet deal.
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