Welcome to Debbie-Dabble Blog!!
I am so happy you decided to stop by!!
Today, on the 2 year Anniversary of when I resigned from the job that I had for close to 42 years, I will be telling you how I got every dime that was owed to me by Employer out of them....
Please stop by and link up to this wonderful party!!
And now for a few Personal Notes...
The 17th was Joe's 67th Birthday!
And like I have told him for the last 45 years, He will ALWAYS be older than me!!
LOL!!
We celebrated with our traditional family Pizza Party on Sunday.....
Joe wanted pizza from a local place, Norm's.....
We are not dessert eaters so lately we have opted for an Ice Cream Cake rather than a baked cake.....
This one is from Friendly's and was very good!!
Everyone has their own seats including Faye!!
Faye has made the ottoman her seat!!
Faye is getting furry again!!!
She knows whose Birthday we were celebrating!!
She loves to lick Joe's knees for some reason!!
With her Mama and Daddy!!
Joe showing Jim and Danielle something....
We had a wonderful afternoon , celebrating with our family!
Before the humidity and temperatures went up again, I was able to enjoy an evening on the front porch reading....
What a great view I had....
They say that The Devil is in the details.....
To me, I think it is God who is in the details.....
It is now 2 years since I resigned, not Retired, from my position as a Staff Nurse for the Healthcare System that I worked for for almost 42 years....
For over 6 years, I had planned my exit from my job into Retirement....
However, it did not go as I planned but it was close.....
I was just 6 months shy of when I had hoped to have my knee replacement surgery, take my medical leave and never go back, thus retiring at the age of 62 years old, when I was forced to stop working because my knee had deteriorated so much so that I could not walk.....
But still my plan to get all the money I was entitled to as per my benefits and even more, worked out perfectly......
Let's start at the beginning which has to do with when you are hired for a job......
Yes, salary is your main concern BUT so should be your benefits......
My strong suggestion is to familiarize yourself with your Human Resources web site where all your employee benefits are listed.....
Even make paper copies so you can have them handy at home if needed.....
Now in my case, web sites did not exist when I first started working for the hospital that was eventually bought out by a large Health Care System so you received a Benefit Booklet that explained all your benefits.....
I would study it and read it from front to back and back to front until I could quote verbatim what my benefits were....
Now since I was an employee that started at"the Dawn of Time", which is what I liked to tell people, I remember when pretty much all benefits were added, taken away or changed.....
One of the first things to check into is whether a 401k plan is available for you to contribute into.....
If so, you need to find out what percentage of contributions that you contribute will your Employer match.....
My employer would match up to 5 % of my contributions...
My advice is, if you can financially, start to contribute the max amount that your employer will match you at so you can start cashing in on what Financial Planners call "Free Money"....
What they mean by this is that the only way you can get this money out of your Employer is if you contribute the max amount of what they will match you at into your 401K.
If you do not contribute into a 401K, then you will miss out on that money from your Employer which I know from experience can really add up....
So please try to take advantage of getting that Free Money!!
What you need to concern yourself with is Vacation and Sick Time or in my case Primary PTO and Extended PTO or Paid Time Off!!
Learn how many days of each you get per year. how it could be used, when it could be used, can it be carried over from year to year, how many "sick" occurrences are you allowed and how to report off ill and to who......
This is how it worked in my case....
Primary PTO was not only my Vacation time but also time that I had to use for illness....
Yep, also my SICK TIME!!!!!
Extended PTO, which they actually considered Sick Time, was only allowed to be accessed and used in "certain" situations
1. Hospitalization
2. Inpatient short stay procedures and one day surgery
3. Now this is the one that most employees never knew about:
After 3 days of Primary PTO were used for an illness, the 4th day, with a Dr.'s note, would come out of your Extended PTO bank along with everyday thereafter for that one particular illness until you were able to return to work
Another little known fact among employees was once you accessed your Extended PTO bank, for one year thereafter, whenever you called off ill again, the first day would be Primary PTO and the second day would be your Extended PTO!
Now you ask why would you want to get into your Extended PTO Bank?????
Because when you would resign or retire, you were not able to cash this bank of paid days off in so you would LOSE them!!!!!
Also by doing this, you were able to have more Primary PTO for Vacation time off and not for any Sick Time use!!!
Next up is how many sick occurrences are you allowed in a year.....
For me, after 3, you received a verbal reprimand , then a written warning and then you were fired!!!
Now as a person ages, they start to experience medical issues that may require them to have to call in ill several times a year.....
My Employer did not care to take that into consideration......
One time , on a 4th occurrence, I had a physician's note and the bottle of prescribed antibiotics with me when I returned to work and my manager, at the time , would not honor the note and gave me a verbal warning.
Then she yelled at me to get an Intermittent FMLA if I had medical conditions......
I said " SAY WHAT???"
I never heard of an Intermittent FMLA...
I had had an FMLA when I had surgery but I had no idea what an Intermittent FMLA was?
WELL......
That was the biggest kept secret of my Employer.......
Until I found out about it....
I promptly started to investigate what it was, how could I get one and how did it work...
A serious mistake on my manager's part ......
"The FMLA entitles eligible employees of covered employers to take
unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons
with continuation of group health insurance coverage under the same
terms and conditions as if the employee had not taken leave. Eligible
employees are entitled to:
- Twelve workweeks of leave in a 12-month period for:
- the birth of a child and to care for the newborn child within one year of birth;
- the placement with the employee of a child for adoption or foster
care and to care for the newly placed child within one year of
placement;
- to care for the employee’s spouse, child, or parent who has a serious health condition;
- a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the essential functions of his or her job;
- any qualifying exigency arising out of the fact that the
employee’s spouse, son, daughter, or parent is a covered military member
on “covered active duty;” or
- Twenty-six workweeks of leave during a single 12-month period to
care for a covered servicemember with a serious injury or illness if the
eligible employee is the servicemember’s spouse, son, daughter, parent,
or next of kin (military caregiver leave)."
So when you have an intermittent FMLA, you can take days off intermittently as long as they do not go over a total of 12 work weeks of Leave in a 12 month period.....
And like regular FMLA, you have to have worked 1250 hours in the year prior to qualify....
You also have to get a Medical Certificate filled out from your Physician with an approved Medical Condition...
It can be arthritis, diabetes, migraines, back pain, IBS, Cardiac condition, etc...
You get my drift....
Also your employer can not penalize you in any way if you take FMLA approved days off so therefore they can not count them as an occurrence of sick time.....
"How Much Leave Is
Available Under The FMLA? Whether an employee takes FMLA leave
intermittently or all at one time, the total amount of FMLA leave
remains the same which is 12 weeks per 12-month timespan normally or for military caregivers, 26 weeks for one 12-month period."
" Can an employee have FMLA coverage for multiple claims for different qualifying events? A: Yes.
... An employee could be covered for multiple claims as long as the
total FMLA coverage does not exceed 12 weeks in a 12 month period and
the employee has worked 1250 hours in the preceding 12 months of the
request."
At one time, I had FMLA's for 3 different approved medical conditions....
Much to my Unit Manager's dismay, I also told as many employees as I possibly could about Intermittent FMLA and many more employees applied for it and were granted it.....
There was no way that I ever enjoyed working with someone who came into work sick because they were afraid of repercussions.....
Joe also had an Intermittant FMLA for his back issues and also told everyone who worked with him At the Post Office about it....
He was able to use his to take a half day off for Dr.'s visits but I was not allowed to do so.....
I was told that I had to take a whole day off and use my PTO!
Click
HERE to read more about Intermittent FMLA
Okay, the next thing I am going to talk about is if you have the benefit of Short Term Disability Insurance.....
As soon as we were offered it, but at the full premium as my employer did NOT contribute anything to it as a benefit, I signed up for it.....
This explains the difference between Short and Long Term Disability......
Now many of my co workers laughed at me when I jumped on getting Short Term Disability because they said that that was what their Extended PTO time was for......
BUT here is the example that I gave them, advocating for it.....
You need surgery and have to have 3 months off from work which depletes ALL of your sick time.....
You return to work and in a week, you are in a car crash , sustain serious injuries and can not work for another 3 months or longer....
All your sick time is now gone....
You will not get paid...
This is why you need Short Term Disability Insurance because it will guarantee you a pay....
I used to ask people if they could go several weeks without a pay and when they said no, then I pointed out that they needed Short Term Disability Insurance!!
Most Short Term Disability plans will pay you 60% of your salary and usually kicks in after you are off for 2 to 4 weeks depending on what you elect as your plan....
If you take the option to be taxed on the premium that you pay for this insurance, you will not be taxed for the benefit money you receive when you have to use it.....
YES, you will receive 60% of your salary without taxes being taken out ...
Nor will you have to claim it as income for the year because you were taxed on the Premium and not the benefit!!
So that means that you will be getting paid 60% of your salary without any taxes having to be taken out or paid back which then comes very close to your full salary....
Now how did this work for me????
As it happened, I needed 3 surgeries, one a year for 3 years, and even though I had the short term disability , I also was required to use my Extended PTO to make my full pay.....
A stipulation that you had use all paid time off before entering a No Pay Status......
I also had to take 2 weeks of Extended PTO time first before my Short Term Disability kicked in......
These 3 surgeries and my use of Extended Time for them and what I used as Intermittent FMLA, depleted my Extended Bank which was precisely what I wanted to do therefore getting paid for ALL the Sick Time benefits that I worked so hard to earn......
I was not concerned about not having much Extended PTO when it came time for my Knee Surgery as I had the Short Term Disability....
I was not going to resign and walk away, losing all that Sick Time that I worked so hard to earn.....
I used to laugh when co workers would brag how many hours of Extended PTO time they had because they did not need to use it....
The Joke ended up being on them.....
When it came time for those same co workers to retire, they had to walk away without getting a dime for all that paid time off.....
Several even estimated that they walked away and left behind anywhere from $20,000 to $30,000 of paid time off that they supposedly earned as a benefit.....
That was NOT going to happen to me.....
If your employer does not offer Short Term Disability and you have multiple health issues requiring time off, it may be worth your while to look into private Short Term Disability Insurance....
Okay, so when I took my Medical Leave, I first had to use up any paid time that I was entitled to...
No problem because I had the Short Term Disability and was receiving monies from that that was fairly close to my salary....
BUT....
As part of my Employee Benefits....
Once an employee entered a No Pay status, ALL benefit premiums would then be paid for by Employer for 6 months!!!
BINGO!!!!!
That now meant that my Employer would have to pay my Healthcare Insurance premiums which not only covered me but also Joe, my Long and Short Term Disability Premiums, my Dental and Vision Insurance for both Joe and I and my Life Insurance premiums!!!!
Not only was I able to cash in and get paid for every single hour of Paid Time off but I got to have them pay for ALL my benefits, including Healthcare for both Joe and I for 6 months!!!!
LOL!!!
Well over $5000 worth of premiums that I would have had to have taken out of my pay from my Extended PTO time if I had had any left!!!!
Money that most Employees can never get from their Employer....
This worked out exactly as I had planned!!
Success!!
Now as I mentioned, I was 6 months shy of my Early Retirement plan.....
But since they closed down my unit, did not really offer me another position and I guess, expected me to Float all over the hospital, I chose to resign.....
So literally, I quit my job, not Retiring from my job.....
I was not yet eligible to receive my Social Security Entitlement payments...
Nor did I want to adjust the annuities I had set up from my 401 K funds that were going to pay me a monthly income for the rest of my life but would not start for another 6 months....
I had not taken all of my 401 K monies out and invested the funds when I turned 59 1/2 years of age....
I had left some money in the account, planning to put it in an IRA when I retired....
I still did so and set up a monthly payment from that IRA account for 6 months until I would start to receive my retirement benefits....
I calculated the amount of my monthly Social Security retirement check plus my annuity checks and that was the amount that came out of my IRA for 6 months as if I was getting my retirement checks....
So basically, the Free Money that I spoke about as my Employer's matching contributions to my 401K, enabled me to quit but still receive a pay until my Retirement benefits started.....
Once that happened, the monthly payments from my IRA stopped....
So my advice to you is to research and know what your benefits are that you receive from your Employer and try to get as much money out of them as you are entitled to......
If you are older and experience Health issues, by all means , get yourself an Intermittent FMLA and definitely take advantage of Short Term Disability Insurance if it is offered!!!
Contribute to your 401k and get that Free Money off of your Employer!!!!!
It worked out quite nicely for me!!!
And I am so happy to be RETIRED!!!!
In a Nut Shell, after almost 42 years of employment, my employer screwed me when they closed down my Unit......
I feel that I simply returned the favor!
Over my years of employment, I had many co workers come to me for advice on what to do about benefits....
They used to tease me that I should work in HR but for the Employees and not the Employer....
I even have had former co workers get in touch with me after I stopped working to ask me questions about how to use their benefits to their advantage.....
I hope you learned something from this post and when the time comes, I hope you too can get all the Benefit money owed to you by your Employer from them when you resign or Retire....
I recently learned that the Unit Manager of my former Unit has left the Health Care System for which I worked and the Clinical Coordinator has taken another job within the System so I feel that after frequently being asked what I wrote in my Letter of Resignation, this was a good time to finally release it.....
Yes, I framed the Letter that I waited almost 42 years to write!!!
The names of the guilty parties were omitted but not to protect them as they were not innocent!!!
Copies were sent to HR, the Unit Manager and the CEO!!
I left in a blaze of Glory like I always wanted to do!!
So for those that have asked what I wrote, here it is!!!!!!
August 12, 2019
Dear Ms. ,
Please accept this as a formal notice of my resignation from my position as a Staff RN at Name Deleted South Wilkes Barre/Name Deleted Medical Center, a position that I have held for 40 + years since my first day of employment, which was September 5th, 1978, at Wyoming Valley Hospital, Dana Street, Wilkes Barre.
My last day of employment will be August 18th, 2019 which is the last day of my approved Medical Leave for Knee Replacement Surgery. Dr. Name Deleted has deemed Monday, August 19th, as the date of my return to work, therefore my resignation will be effective on Monday, August 19th.
After careful consideration of the facts stated below, I have made my decision to resign 6 months prior to my planned retirement date of January 31, 2020, when I will turn 62 years of age.
1. The closing of the Rehabilitation Unit at Name Deleted South Wilkes Barre in November 2018 and the failed promised re-opening of that unit as a Medical Surgical Unit.
2. The failure to honor the fact that I was supposedly grandfathered in as an RN who was not considered a Float RN
3. After working 37+ years in the Rehab Unit, which was considered Non Acute, I was only given 3 days of Medical Surgical Orientation and several hours of Inservice Education before I would be required to float and work on Medical Surgical departments including those at Name Deleted Medical Center.
4. After being off for almost 6 months on Medical Leave, 2 months prior to my surgery because of extreme difficulty walking and then 3+ months post op Knee Replacement Surgery, I was not contacted by any representative of Name Deleted including my Unit Manager, name deleted, my Clinical Coordinator, name deleted nor a representative from the Human Resource Department, as to what was the status of my position and what positions would be offered to me should I decide to return to work after my Medical Leave for my surgery.
5. Current management at Name Deleted stipulating that in order to work the Medical Surgical Departments at Name Deleted South, you must work 12 hour shifts even though several employees, including myself, were hired for 8 hours shifts. If employees refuse, they are more often than not floated to Name Deleted for an 8 hours shift.
6. Current management utilizing flex employees to work at the Name Deleted South Medical Surgical units while regular scheduled employees of Name Deleted South are being floated to work on Name Deleted Medical Surgical units.
Because of the above stated facts, I hereby resign as a Staff RN, after 40 + years of Service, effective Monday, August 19th. 2019, because I refuse to work in such a chaotic, poorly managed environment.
Sincerely,
Deborah A. Barna
Copies of this letter have been sent to Human Resources, Operations Manager Name Deleted South Wilkes Barre and President and Chief Executive Officer
I worked in such a toxic environment that I found out from my former co workers that after I had PMed some people a copy of this on Face Book, there were those that wanted to go into the Unit Manager's office and report me!!!
I was not even an employee anymore by then!!!
What did they think would happen???
That I would get fired????
LOL!!!!!
I hope you will stop by to visit again soon!!
Stay safe, healthy and most of all, HAPPY!!
Thanks to those who took the time out of their busy day to spend a little bit of time with me!!
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I personally love your resignation letter! I FEEL YOU. I had to leave a job that I actually loved the work I did but the toxic work place got to a level that made my life a living h*** - such that I was to the point of almost crying every day knowing I had to be there each day. When I was finally pushed to my very last nerve, I made the decision to resign effective 5 PM that same day and turned that letter in at 12 noon before leaving for my lunch, to return to pandemonia in the office as I had many responsibilities and no one prior to that moment had wanted to learn what I did in order to be 'back up' if I was out ill, etc. I calmly began to pack up all my personal items, dropped stacks of files and work onto the remaining desks (while being asked to 'step in and discuss this letter' with three different people who basically wanted me to 'un-resign', but I stuck to my guns on that). Through the entire rest of that day, there was complete disbelief I really meant what I said in that letter and that I truly was packing up and leaving at 5 PM. But I did. postscript - three days letter I get registered letter from my former employer, stating I was being given 2 days upon receipt of letter to return to my position and 'all would be forgiven' blah blah blah and that it was a one-time offer to 'forgive and move on'. Needless to say, I didn't respond. Anyways, I have been there and done that too and yes, I am very much like you - I knew my employment benefits and rights there inside and out and made sure I used them all too.
ReplyDeleteDawn P.,
DeleteOMG!!!!! You made my day, Girl!!!! LOL! BIG time Kudos to you!!!!! I LOVED hearing about this and so glad that you stuck to your guns and "stuck" it to them!!!! I loved the "all would be forgiven" as if you were the one to have done something wrong!! Good for you knowing your rights and benefits...Something that i find most adults can be rather clueless about as they are more concerned with salary.... This comment will have me smiling for a long time to come!! Thanks so much for sharing your experience!!! Have a great day !!!
Hugs,
Deb
Wow, that's a trip Debbie. Congratulations on your retirement...and being free from all that angst and grief. Sadly, I think so many people feel bound to their jobs, serving in servitude...it can't be conducive to a healthy work environment. I never worked a career job---only when we need a stable extra income for the household. As an artist, sales could simply be unpredictable and actually relied on weather (for shows) as to how much you could make. Hugs to you for doing research...only issue I ever had was a toxic employee situation, where I finally went to the district manager and used the words, "toxic work environment" and the situation was immediately resolved. Like you---I had done my research...and those magic words solved the problem quickly. Hugs, Sandi
ReplyDeleteAt my final job, I worked as an administrative secretary for a group of young men in their thirties. The financial mistakes I saw them make boggled my mind. First, many used their work email address as their only email address. This meant that if you were let go, you did not have access to your email account. They would bump these accounts to another employee and that meant someone was getting all your personal emails including banking, etc.
ReplyDeleteNo one thought they needed insurance of any kind other than the free medical or life. I would be blue in the face for that one.
I would remind young employees that they needed to plan for retirement on day one. And that you cannot depend on the company to provide any pension or retirement as promised when hired. I worked in Public Employee Retirement. Originally I was vested for retirement and retirement insurance in five years (I am really old so we had good benefits). Then it bumped to 7 years, then 15 years with no option for insurance for spouse. And by the time I retired, the supplement insurance offered was a cost and it was more expensive than other plans I could purchase.
I did get burnt on sick pay more than once. I never had health conditions that I could use it for. I did use a lot of it for children's appointments when they were young. We had the option of coming in early and working late so we did not use our sick time, but I knew it was not my forever job and I would take a half day or even a full day to use it up before I left.
You were a great help to your coworkers and deserve the fruits of your labor! My husband and I planned and saved so that we would both retire at 60. I often hear, oh you are so lucky you were able to do this. No. We worked really hard, we planned for the future and we saved and did without so that we could do this. Still live in the same house we bought in Jan 1979, we drove used cars, we took day trip vacations.
First of all that pizza party looks great! Second, wow, you should be an advocate for those nearing retirement. You know it all. That's amazing and I'm glad you were able to get everything you worked so hard for all those years. Smart cookie!!
ReplyDeleteGreat information and great job on getting the most out of your 42 year career ! Now days, we must be our own best advocate…..in our jobs, school, retirement and health care. Thank you, V
ReplyDeleteV.
DeleteThanks for visiting again!! I am so glad that I am out of there...Years ago, it was a nice place to work but things are so different and now I have heard it is even much worse!!!!
Stay safe, healthy and happy!!
hugs,
Debbie
Looks like your hubby had a great birthday, I need to try a frozen cake one of these birthdays :)
ReplyDeleteSorry you had to deal with so much junk with work, I bet it feels great to do what you want after all those years of working
There's a lot of good info. here. I'm curious why you stayed at a job you clearly didn't like for so long? Enjoy retirement doing what you want when you want.
ReplyDeletePJ,
DeleteThat sad thing is that I worked with my 2 best friends from over 20 years...then about 15 years ago, one retired and the other left Nursing all together.....When they moved my unit out of the main Hospital to what used to be a hospital that they turned it into an Ambulatory Care Center, except for our unit, being away from the main hospital with new management, left them to do what they pleased and were getting away with it...Also one you are working for the same place for over 30 years, I would never get the salary I was getting elsewhere without taking at least a $10 an hour pay cut along with not getting almost 6 weeks of paid time off a year . Plus the Healthcare was excellent in comparison to other medical facilities and I was carrying my husband on mine as the Post Office's health care stinks. He was a letter carrier for the US Postal Service. From a financial point of view, I could not leave. Thanks so much for stopping by!!
Hugs,
Deb
Good for you to get everything that was owed to you. I just learned about the FMLA because my best friend was going through cancer treatments and her hubby had to take time off of work to be with her.
ReplyDeleteYour story sounds much the same as mine, as well as the benefits you received. You are SO RIGHT about making benefits a part of your job considerations. AND taking advantage of retirement plans asap. (I didn't do that -- I was paying off loans. I think I caught up but who knows?) I had to use FMLA for me and also when my dad was ill. It was a real blessing.
ReplyDeleteGood for you Debbie and thank you for your 40+ years of service as an RN. That is tough work! You deserve all that you worked hard for and yes there are many folks out there that do not know what they are entitled to. Thanks for sharing all of this great advice.
ReplyDeleteLynda,
DeleteThanks so much for stopping by and for taking the time to comment!! I appreciate your kind words!!! Stay safe, heathy and happy!!
Hugs,
Debbie