I know this isn't the right forum, but it's medical and there are many cautious medical people around here.

I have an employee who has been out in short term disability for going on 3 months. Routine surgery but got sepsis and then IV antibiotics for about 2.5 months.

They are about to switch them to a pill version so they will likely come back next week.

My question is. Should they have been on disability for so long or should they be able to work from home or even in an office?

Who approves your company's short term disability? We have a 3rd party service that approves all short term disability claims. If they say the employee qualifies for short term disability, that means all the documentation from their doctor is in order and it is a valid claim.

Are you implying that the doctor was somehow convinced by the employee to sign off on short term disability when the patient was perfectly able to work?

I'm okay with short term disability here, a third party approved it - and I'm saving salary for a few months which isn't horrible.

My question is should someone be able to work from home with one? Assuming they don't feel particularly bad - just have the pic line - where a nurse comes to their house to administer antibiotics…

We could have used the coverage (small service dept)

Yes.

I think this depends on the person and what they discussed with their Doctor.

I broke my hand in a car wreck in the summer of 2020. I certainly could have taken off a few weeks after surgery due to a cast on my right hand. I chose to write my FMLA form that I was able to work from home as the pain and mobility allowed. Some days were bad and I worked just a few hours. Other days were ok and I worked more.

On the other hand I had an acquaintance who had a hysterectomy without complications who stayed home 3 months. The last few weeks of her leave she was checking in on Facebook to workout at the gym. Obviously my thought was if you can workout then you can probably go to work.

The FMLA forms really can't be questioned short of a fraudulent form. I don't believe you can even discuss it with the employee. It is definitely taken advantage of by some.

My 2 cents.