… Undercover Nun now has a tip jar.  Why?  Well, I’ll tell you.

On August 5, 2010, I went out on short-term disability from work.  I did not work any hours until September 7, when I was approved to work 12 hours per week.  In the meantime, my short-term disability claim paperwork had not been properly filled out.  On September 14, I was notified that insufficient evidence had been provided to prove disability.  So I received no pay for the month of August, and significantly reduced pay for the month of September. 

In early October, my doctor and I stretched up to 24 hours per week.  I say stretched, because a 24-hour workweek was only doable if nothing went wrong.  As long as I didn’t try to do any housework on the weekend, or do something silly like try to get to two church services on a Sunday, I could get the full 24 hours in.  Then, in January, a major flare began.  I hit a 10-out-of-10 pain day, and in response, my doctor reduced me to a 16-hour workweek.

In the meantime, my FMLA hours at work had run out as of December 31.  So I’ve been working not-quite-24-hour workweeks since then, which is considered part time.  If I’m a part time employee, I’m not eligible for benefits, like health insurance, short-term disability insurance, and long-term disability insurance.  When did I find out that my FMLA time was exhausted and in fact overdrawn by 86 hours?  Today.  A month later.

Now I’m scrambling.  I put in a “reduced workweek request” at work.  I don’t know what’s going to happen with the hours between almost-24 (and 16, the last couple weeks) and 32.  I’m already overdrawn in my paid-time-off hours, and I’ll go past the limit of minus-forty.  The rest will probably come out of my pay, 8+ hours per week worth.

To add insult to injury, my ex-husband has opened a child support enforcement case.  I discussed the disability situation with him in September, and he said that the money wasn’t important, just let him know when I could start repaying him.  Instead of talking to me about it, though, he went to social services.  That’s the insult part, but adding injury to injury, now I’m responsible for an extra 25% until the back payments are caught up.  And we’re late on all our bills already. 

I don’t know what to do.  I just… don’t. 

So anyway, if you feel moved to stuff a dollar in the tipjar, there’s a PayPal button on the right for you.  If you’d like to be repaid in the future when (God willing) that glorious check for my back pay comes in, then please let me know.  Otherwise, I’ll plan to pay it forward in the form of donations to worthy organizations and/or directly to other people in need.  And if you are unmoved or offended, then please ignore the button and accept my apology.

God bless you.

EDIT: If you’d prefer Undercover Nun swag, I’m working on a zazzle store right now.  Because YOUR dog needs a “Turn the other cheek, bitches!” t-shirt.  :-)