Yes. When I was sick* I managed to work part time and use banked sick and vacation hours all the way through, but it was rough. If I had been unable to work at

Yes. When I was sick* I managed to work part time and use banked sick and vacation hours all the way through, but it was rough. If I had been unable to work at all I would have had to invoke short term disability, which iirc lasted six weeks. After that, I would have been fired. I had worked for the company for less than six months so I was unable to invoke FMLA at all. These days I'm independent and have a very large cash buffer in case something else happens. Planning with cash is way easier than trying to negotiate giant employer leave policies, in my experience. *I was diagnosed with a very treatable form of cancer in November 2012.