Fired during maternity leave

I live in Oklahoma.

I recently worked for a company with fewer than 50 employees. What are my rights about regarding taking time off to have a baby? My office didn't offer "maternity leave" but they agreed to let me take up to 6 weeks off (unpaid of course). I decided to only take 5, which they were aware of. 1 week before I was due to return to work they called and told me they were terminating my employment because they were afraid that having a baby would cause me to miss to much work in the future. Are they allowed to do this?

That's a tough call. They can fire you for missing too much work, because you are not covered by FMLA, but that's not what you were told. You were fired because you MIGHT miss too much work in the future because of your child. That could be considered family status discrimination. However, discrimination for this reason is not prohibited by federal law. Some states have protected this characteristic, you will have to see if your state is one of them. Another poster might know or you can try googling.

I think this is blatant gender discrimination unless the employer can point to any male employees they fired because they MIGHT miss too much work because there's a new baby at home. $1000 says they have male employees who have had newborns who didn't get fired.

ajbarr01, it appears you have good reason to consult with an employment law attorney and file a complaint with the EEOC or your State's equal rights division.