# Is my workplace unusual for this? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 21, 2006, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-workplace-unusual-for-this/373600 "2006-09-21T19:04:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2006, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-workplace-unusual-for-this/373600/21 "2006-09-22T02:42:41Z")
[QUOTE=jsgoddess] What would be the policy at your workplace? [/QUOTE] In my organisation? I doubt that she’d be granted paid sick leave, unless the facial surgery is reconstruction following some sort of accident. She’d have to take unpaid leave. And the rule of thumb here is that such leaves operates on a minimum notice ratio of 4:1 i.e. if you want a week’s unpaid leave, you have to give four weeks’ notice to your manager. For six weeks’ unpaid leave, you’d basically need to give about six months’ notice to your manager, who could still refuse anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2006, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-workplace-unusual-for-this/373600/22 "2006-09-22T07:27:22Z")
In Spain she’d have the choice of coming to work or leave the job. If she up and leaves in the announced date, she’d be understood to have “abandoned the job”, so she wouldn’t even count as being “fired” and she wouldn’t get any unemployment benefits (not even access to courses for the unemployed). Spanish Social Security would cover her medical expenses, and she’d get sick time,_if_ she’d been hurt and needed “reconstructive surgery”. For “cosmetic” you’re on your own. Having had voluntary Lasik myself, and having several friends and relatives whose cancer treatments and different transplants were covered by SS, I’m just fine with the system. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2006, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-workplace-unusual-for-this/373600/23 "2006-09-22T11:35:22Z")
Our sick leave accrues forever - 4 hours earned every 2 weeks - so it’s possible to have more than enough time on the books for an extended leave. Getting to use that time for a non-emergency procedure would require lots of planning, depending upon the individual and the job. But I’m thinking getting the last part of the year off would be next to impossible, considering the usual holiday vacations along with those who have use-or-lose to burn. Of course, working for the gov’t is unlike working in the real world. ---
**Author:** ![Aangelica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Aangelica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aangelica)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2006, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-workplace-unusual-for-this/373600/24 "2006-09-22T15:23:17Z")
At my firm, she could probably arrange for 6 weeks off without any difficulty - but probably not that _particular_ six weeks. Without any remaining vacation or sick time to her name, she could almost certainly take 6 weeks unpaid - but they’re going to look at her funny when she wants the time from just before Thanksgiving to New Years. They’ll laugh at her and tell her no. If it were medically necessary surgery (or even something like Lasik or a gastric bypass, which is often not “necessary”, but serves a valid medical purpose), then it would be no problem - as unpaid leave. If it were a legitimate medical necessity that the surgery be done ASAP, disability wouldn’t be a problem. Heck for something like Lasik or gastric bypass, they’d probably also allow disability, provided she was willing to schedule a goodly amount of time in advance (say 6 months) and avoid times of the year like the holiday season when half the office takes time off. But asking for the time between Thanksgiving and New Years off in late September without having any remaining time off for the year for purely elective cosmetic surgery? Hell no. Not a single chance. It would take her a while to convince them she wasn’t joking when she asked. And my work is notoriously permissive about time off. Even with the most obnoxiously anal retentive of our departments, as long as you tell them a reasonable amount of time in advance (like a month at _most_ - even if you’re planning to take all your time (5 weeks/year for people with more than a year with the firm) in a block), getting time off is a pro forma request. I’ve never even heard of someone being denied time they’d already accrued\*. \*We also get our time in a block at the beginning of a fiscal year. ---
**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2006, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-workplace-unusual-for-this/373600/25 "2006-09-22T15:42:15Z")
[QUOTE=ouryL] 6 weeks? 😕 My friend was out and about after two days. He didn’t do any strenuous work for two weeks. But it took ten weeks before all swelling and healing was done and over. [/QUOTE] I am also surprised at this. I don’t know anyone who has had a facelift but I do know someone with a nose job and they went back to work after a week. She’ll be bruised, and probably painful, but there’s no reason someone should have to take off six weeks for a minor facial surgery. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2006, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-workplace-unusual-for-this/373600/26 "2006-09-22T17:20:19Z")
This sort of thing would be at management’s discretion. You could feasibly have saved up six weeks of leave at my job, and then do it. If you wanted to do it unpaid, you’d risk losing your job - although “managers discretion” could keep your job for you. The chance that “managers discretion” would come into play for a receptionist are slim to none. That’s the situation where “we really like Bob. We really don’t want Bob to leave. Bob will be very hard to replace. Bob knows everything. Bob wants to take a six week sabbatical to hike through Tibet, and if we don’t keep his job for him, he’ll just quit and find a new one when he comes back - probably with our competitor. We will let Bob have six weeks unpaid.” ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2006, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-workplace-unusual-for-this/373600/27 "2006-09-22T21:44:56Z")
[QUOTE=jsgoddess] \ Coworker is incensed, which makes me curious. What would be the policy at your workplace? [/QUOTE] I can’t say for sure, but I don’t believe that she would be permitted to do this. It is possible that she \*might \*be able to take unpayed leave, but I don’t know for sure. My thought would be that once they realised that I wasn’t needed for six straight weeks they might just end my position. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-workplace-unusual-for-this/373600/28 "2006-09-23T09:27:17Z")
6 weeks for a facelift? That’s some facelift! And she’s already had two months off for other surgery? Sorry, but she’s taking the piss. ---
**Author:** ![GrizzRich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7ba0ec/32.png) [@GrizzRich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrizzRich)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-workplace-unusual-for-this/373600/29 "2006-09-23T09:49:17Z")
I agree with **Quartz**. …SIX WEEKS? Jeez… is she getting a new SKULL? ---
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-workplace-unusual-for-this/373600/30 "2006-09-23T15:29:47Z")
The Family Medical Leave Act would require leave to be given if it is medically necessary, but the leave could be unpaid. Many companies would require paid sick and vacation leave to be used concurrently with the FMLA time, so the employee couldn’t come back from the unpaid leave and then take paid vacation. However, it’s hard to argue that a facelift is medically necessary. Some facial surgery is reconstructive, but I didn’t hear any inkling of that in the OP. From there on out it will depend on the employer’s policies and precedent. My HR-based recommendation is to document the hissy fit as a performance problem and pave the way for this receptionist to find the door. A truly good receptionist understands that coverage is an essential part of the job. If an employee wanted a good chance of getting leave for such a situation with an employer, my recommendation would be to save up the leave to the extent possible and plan for the business’s slow time. With that approach, a good employer and a good employee should be able to work something out. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-workplace-unusual-for-this/373600/31 "2006-09-23T15:35:25Z")
[QUOTE=Harriet the Spry] The Family Medical Leave Act would require leave to be given if it is medically necessary, but the leave could be unpaid. [/QUOTE] We are exempt from FMLA, as we have only 30 employees. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-workplace-unusual-for-this/373600/32 "2006-09-23T16:41:22Z")
How ugly is she.? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-workplace-unusual-for-this/373600.md?page=1)