Xpost from NPR - Pregnant and denied short term disability - anything I can do?

So here is my situation: I am a teacher at a private school and I became pregnant last year. I have arhythmia and it became too hard for me to teach, so I took an early maternity leave. I was about 22 weeks pregnant and I stopped working at the end of January. However, I occassionally do test writing from home for a particular company. It is not a steady job.

Since working from home is much easier on the body than teaching, I continued to do a little bit of test writing. I only earned $500 from January to March doing the test writing and did not continue to do test writing since then.

I filed for short term disability from my school and dated it for March, after I stopped test writing. However, I was denied. They told me that since my school was not my last employer, they do not have to pay me.

Is there any way to fight this? I did very little work for the test writing company. I don't know that I am really even considered an employee for this company.

TIA

Message edited 8/18/2009 1:49:19 PM.

Re: Xpost from NPR - Pregnant and denied short term disability - anything I can do?

Did you leave the school before you started working for this test company? If you did, you are probably not eligible for short term disability. You can file with the state for long term, but I am not sure how that would work. I was on short term from my job February-May and I filed right away. If you take another position, even if it is not steady, I believe they can deny your claim. However, I would advise you consult with an labor/employment law attorney who would probably know better-I do family law and I don't want to give you the wrong advice!

Re: Xpost from NPR - Pregnant and denied short term disability - anything I can do?

Re: Xpost from NPR - Pregnant and denied short term disability - anything I can do?

If you make any sort of income whatsoever while out on disability, they do not have to pay you.

Sad but true...