short term disability and mental health question

[fizzgig]

i just got back from a two-day stay in a psych unit and the doc has me home from work until the 29th. i still have a week of sick time left but i just talked with the hr rep (i work for a large corporation) and she said she's not sure that short term disability will cover the rest of the time. she told me it's different because 'it's not like when someone has surgery and is bed-ridden and can't come into work.' corporate apparently has it's own book of what is and is not covered and a doctor on staff to help make the determination. if i'm not eligible for short term disability, i have to use the rest of my vacation and personal time or take the time unpaid (which is not an option).

i'm livid about this right now. i told her it WAS medical and this time off is what the doc ordered (i've got the note).

to top it all off, she said it would be wednesday before she could get back to me.

is there anything i can be working on now to make sure i've got my back covered?

as an aside, i realize how fortunate i am to have insurance and sick time.

many thanks

[TZ]

1. Your HR rep is either a moron or dishonest

Most short-term disability will accept mental illness as a cause as long as you have a doctor's reference. In fact there are a lot of physical illnesses like Lupus which can cause mental illness as well so this idiot has no clue God knows how many depressives have to have disability because of their lack of ability to function!
Your corporation should have an insurance carrier of some sort that covers both short and long term disability. The corps I am familiar with say that you use one week of leave before disability kicks in. If nothing else, call your health insurance carrier or even your state insurance board. You are getting the run around and it smells suspicious like they are stonewalling deliberately because they don't want to shell out. Also try the head of corporate HR. Don't let them intimidate you..

[fizzgig]

2. my hr rep is damn near useless

thanks for the suggestions, i'll start making calls early next week