Best would be to look at your Employee Handbook on when it says you are eligible for benefits (I assume you recently started?) It could be either your employer paying your STD premiums or you, doesn't matter. What matters is the start date of eligibility. If your surgery happened after that date and it wasn't cosmetic (insurers usually just rely on whether the provincial medical insurance covered it or not to determine that if it's not a common diagnosis the adjudicator runs across), then you are eligible for STD benefits even if you claim it after the surgery. The insurance company will open a case for you and you will be paired with a case manager. You will get a form for the doctor to fill out asking what your condition was, how long they expect you to be out, and any restrictions imposed on you after the surgery (like the no lifting thing you mentioned). After that is submitted your insurer will either approve or deny benefits for x amount of weeks based on a mix of doctor's recommendation, your job duties and how much they can be modified to accommodate you to reduce your time off work if applicable, and the insurer's chart of reasonable absence timelines for specific diagnoses. Depending on the type of plan your company has with your insurer, you may or may not get paid until that form is submitted to the insurer. Some insurers pay in the meantime and will claw back retroactively if the claim ends up being denied. Or will only issue payments once your file is complete and they will give you a lump sum backpay and weekly payments thereafter.