It’s very scary to find yourself suddenly without health insurance due to an administrative error. I’m thankful the union was there for me when my family and I needed them.
My daughter was born on July 3, 2019. I called the UFT prior to applying for my paid parental leave and FMLA on SOLAS so I knew I had done it correctly, and I got my approval email from the DOE.
On the Saturday of Columbus Day weekend, I got four letters from the DOE — one each for me, my husband and my two daughters — saying that I was eligible for COBRA. The DOE had dropped me from my insurance! I never got a warning.
I was fuming. I tried calling human resources at the DOE a few times. They don’t pick up the phone for 45 minutes, and then they transfer you — I spent most of the day trying to get someone on the phone. Finally this HR rep told me I wasn’t eligible for FMLA because I had taken a leave with my first daughter in 2017. She said, “It takes a year to accumulate FMLA.” And I said, “Yes, and it’s 2019.”
There was dead silence on the phone. Then she said, “Hmm, that doesn’t make sense.” She told me she didn’t know how to calculate the hours for FMLA. I said, “You’re the human resources department, and you can’t even tell me how you’re calculating this?”
I called the union. Everybody I spoke to was a pleasure. All the people who helped me were phenomenal. They told me, “They can deduct hours from your FMLA, but the DOE is not allowed to deny your FMLA. Let us figure out what it is you’re entitled to.”
Calling HR on my own didn’t have an impact, but as soon as the UFT called the DOE, everything got fixed very quickly and my insurance was magically reinstated.
We pay union dues for a reason. Having someone who was there to help me and be on my side to fight for what I deserved was amazing.
Alyson Macaluso is a teacher at PS 255 in Queens.
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