when to tell my job about upcoming surgery?

As a new employee you are not protected under FMLA. I would highly encourage you to speak with the nursing home immediately. You may need to reschedule your surgery at a later point. Employers do not have to accommodate new employees and their health care appointments, surgeries, etc. If you were eligible for FMLA, then they would.

If you are a CNA or nurse who works the floor and you have to wear a cast for a couple of months I envision these scenarios: (1) Nursing home will tell you that you need to delay your surgery if you want to be eligible for FMLA andmedical leave (2) Nursing home will tell you that since you can't meet the job duties, they will need to let you go (3) Nursing home will tell you that they could keep you employed, but you will not be able to work for the months you need to recover, as they don't have any other tasks you could do.....so essentially you will be without pay. Keep in mind with this scenario you may be required to pay the full cost of your health insurance if you are placed on leave without pay.

Plan ahead of time....definitely. You may end up needing to delay this surgery if you wish to remain employed.

Employers are not required to provide short term disability benefits, so I would be surprised if they covered employees with this type of benefit.

Yeah tell them. Give them as much time as possible to show good faith. The longer you wait on this the more of a jam you will put them in, which will reflect poorly on you.

Also consider filing for FMLA and short term disability. FMLA act guarantees you up to 90 days off without pay, but your employer must let you return to work. Short term disability pays about 80% of your salary TAX FREE so you make nearly 100% if not more depending on your tax bracket.

If you just got this job, you won't qualify for FMLA. You have to work 12 months and 1250 hours to qualify for FMLA. I think you should tell them sooner rather than later, because it gives them time to prepare for it, especially if you won't be allowed to work and they need to have coverage. If they won't let you work in a cast, you will more than likely lose your job over this, just make sure you're prepared for that.

YOu need to tel them now, as you are correct, they may let you go. Its not fiar if they hire you and you can't work for 9 weeks 9almost 2.5 months) so they need to be able to plan this way ahead of time. Its the right (and ethical) thing to do.