EDIT: well it seems to have magically worked out. it figures, as soon as i post a thread about it! 
my lawyer managed to do the impossible. my employer had told me i'd run out of disability pay, but she somehow managed to get them to put me BACK on short term disability. so i'm going to be making what i have been making. it's not a lot but it will pay the bills. plus this way my insurance will stay the super cheap employee rate. 
i'm going to leave the original post up for posterity so the thread at least makes some sense.
i'm really stuck between a rock and a hard place here. as some of you may know i was in a really bad car accident about four months ago. and as some of you may also know, i've been out on short term disability because of this. my injuries were kinda severe, i mean no broken bones but thanks to a bunch of asshole doctors in it more for the money and less for the care (omg lawsuit throw her out of the office even though she's got really good insurance!! let's not perform any tests!!) you'd think after four months i'd be feeling better than i am.
well anyway, to make a long story short, i have now run out of disability pay. long term disability is not an option. that's for people who are pretty much bed stricken, those are the people you see on cops where they say "they SAID they were sick and couldn't work. here they are installing their satellite dish. here they are at a baseball game." you know, the kinda shit where it's like basically you can't even do the most mundane shit so you're very likely to get tailed by people like mr. baw in case you're defrauding the insurance company. so yeah, that's not me. i'm too sick to sit at a desk for 40 hours, but not sick enough to where i can't sit at a desk for, say, 20 hours. but that's not an option either. (the company will not let me do half days or anything.)
so i received a letter from my employer stating my disability pay was running out. i am left with three options, which you will see are stated on the poll:
1. return to work with NO limitations (discussed further down)
2. go on unpaid leave (i have up to 12 weeks of this available)
3. quit my job
now, let's discuss each thing. as i said, i have to return with no limitations. given that i'm broke and my family can't afford to support me, i can't afford to not work. so i went to my doctor and we discussed the letter (and she also told me about the long term disability thing and that i was basically fucked, if i wanted to earn any money anymore i'd have to work) and she agreed to write me a release letter stating that i could return, but i'd have to be able to go to physical therapy, continue being under the care of my doctors (because i haven't even been given the clean bill of health by any of them or even been back for a freaking follow-up by anyone yet), and also be allowed to get up and stretch every hour. not too unreasonable, right? it doesn't say i should be allowed to take a 15 minute break every hour or anything.
well, they told me specifically that there need to be no restrictions. basically, i need to return as if it's pre-accident. no leaving early or coming in late for doctor's visits or physical therapy, nothing. and they balked at the stretching every hour thing, which realistically every employee at a desk should be doing. it's horrible for your back to be sitting for hours on end without getting up even for just a minute. unfortunately i know back in the day people used to take breaks but then people started abusing it. i'm not one of those people, but they say one bad apple...
now, about the unpaid leave. this is basically useless to me. i have 12 weeks available in which i would be an employee but i wouldn't make any money. oh, and my job wouldn't be held for me either. really the only benefit for this is i'd be paying regular insurance premiums instead of cobra. (as i know from my husband's, mine are like $68 a month versus cobra's $300ish a month.) quite a savings. but still, not enough for me to really justify me even considering this an option. i'll explain why. see, while i'm on disability, if i am hired anywhere else, i will be responsible to pay my employer back every dime they've given me while on disability. back salary as well as insurance premiums. eek. so if i'm not going to make any money for 12 weeks i'd rather at least be able to look for a new job.
so that brings me to option #3, quit. i'd have to go on cobra for my insurance (because with all this shit i obviously can't go without insurance, because i don't even know what's wrong with my back yet and i've not even had an mri of that done yet because my back doctor is a complete jerk and i may need back surgery which is expensive and means i'd be out of work for a while which my current employer would probably forbid) which is super expensive, but at least i can look for a new job. but of course, that doesn't mean i'd find one.
so, what do you think? please vote. anyone wanna donate to the charity of khan? kidding?
my lawyer managed to do the impossible. my employer had told me i'd run out of disability pay, but she somehow managed to get them to put me BACK on short term disability. so i'm going to be making what i have been making. it's not a lot but it will pay the bills. plus this way my insurance will stay the super cheap employee rate. i'm going to leave the original post up for posterity so the thread at least makes some sense.
i'm really stuck between a rock and a hard place here. as some of you may know i was in a really bad car accident about four months ago. and as some of you may also know, i've been out on short term disability because of this. my injuries were kinda severe, i mean no broken bones but thanks to a bunch of asshole doctors in it more for the money and less for the care (omg lawsuit throw her out of the office even though she's got really good insurance!! let's not perform any tests!!) you'd think after four months i'd be feeling better than i am.
well anyway, to make a long story short, i have now run out of disability pay. long term disability is not an option. that's for people who are pretty much bed stricken, those are the people you see on cops where they say "they SAID they were sick and couldn't work. here they are installing their satellite dish. here they are at a baseball game." you know, the kinda shit where it's like basically you can't even do the most mundane shit so you're very likely to get tailed by people like mr. baw in case you're defrauding the insurance company. so yeah, that's not me. i'm too sick to sit at a desk for 40 hours, but not sick enough to where i can't sit at a desk for, say, 20 hours. but that's not an option either. (the company will not let me do half days or anything.)
so i received a letter from my employer stating my disability pay was running out. i am left with three options, which you will see are stated on the poll:
1. return to work with NO limitations (discussed further down)
2. go on unpaid leave (i have up to 12 weeks of this available)
3. quit my job
now, let's discuss each thing. as i said, i have to return with no limitations. given that i'm broke and my family can't afford to support me, i can't afford to not work. so i went to my doctor and we discussed the letter (and she also told me about the long term disability thing and that i was basically fucked, if i wanted to earn any money anymore i'd have to work) and she agreed to write me a release letter stating that i could return, but i'd have to be able to go to physical therapy, continue being under the care of my doctors (because i haven't even been given the clean bill of health by any of them or even been back for a freaking follow-up by anyone yet), and also be allowed to get up and stretch every hour. not too unreasonable, right? it doesn't say i should be allowed to take a 15 minute break every hour or anything.
well, they told me specifically that there need to be no restrictions. basically, i need to return as if it's pre-accident. no leaving early or coming in late for doctor's visits or physical therapy, nothing. and they balked at the stretching every hour thing, which realistically every employee at a desk should be doing. it's horrible for your back to be sitting for hours on end without getting up even for just a minute. unfortunately i know back in the day people used to take breaks but then people started abusing it. i'm not one of those people, but they say one bad apple...
now, about the unpaid leave. this is basically useless to me. i have 12 weeks available in which i would be an employee but i wouldn't make any money. oh, and my job wouldn't be held for me either. really the only benefit for this is i'd be paying regular insurance premiums instead of cobra. (as i know from my husband's, mine are like $68 a month versus cobra's $300ish a month.) quite a savings. but still, not enough for me to really justify me even considering this an option. i'll explain why. see, while i'm on disability, if i am hired anywhere else, i will be responsible to pay my employer back every dime they've given me while on disability. back salary as well as insurance premiums. eek. so if i'm not going to make any money for 12 weeks i'd rather at least be able to look for a new job.
so that brings me to option #3, quit. i'd have to go on cobra for my insurance (because with all this shit i obviously can't go without insurance, because i don't even know what's wrong with my back yet and i've not even had an mri of that done yet because my back doctor is a complete jerk and i may need back surgery which is expensive and means i'd be out of work for a while which my current employer would probably forbid) which is super expensive, but at least i can look for a new job. but of course, that doesn't mean i'd find one.
so, what do you think? please vote. anyone wanna donate to the charity of khan? kidding?
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i'd said that cobra is a little more than $300 a month whereas i'm paying about $68 a month right now. and no, they won't let me back on with any restrictions. if they were, i wouldn't have to consider quitting or unpaid leave as options.
) went into a lot more detail and even broke out a model to show me where my fracture was and that it was hairline and didn't need to be operated on, it'd heal by itself, etc. i'm not wanting surgery and lots of drugs but damnit don't dumb my diagnoses down so much that you essentially tell me nothing!
Can't you perhaps live with your parents and simultaneously look for a better job?
absolutely!
i'll have lost of freedom fries that days to make up for it. 
