laid off after pregnancy

[j2t]

California- Hi. When I was 5 months pregnant, I was ordered to bedrest by my doctor. I gave birth in Jan. 2006. Countless times I attempted dialogue, phone call, emails, etc but my employer avoided me and I received no return correspondence. Then on May 1, my now former employer sent a letter stating they could not hold my position. When I applied for unemployment, my employer tried to refute claiming that they contacted me, that I did not respond, then, that I had not reported back to work on my own volition. Do I have a case for wrongful termination?

 

[turbowray]

hmmm

did you ever file for fmla leave?? This may fall under the guidlines because it would have hurt your unborn and you,if you got up...was there any witnesses when you made these attempts to contact them? Did you send the doctors note to your work? Did you return the day your doctor released you to do so? Did your work send you your final paycheck in the mail since it sounds to me like they let you go for not being there? The senior members will have much better responses to this but i was just wondering these things...glad you and your child are ok!!!!

 

[j2t]

i believe it is wrongful termination

hi, thanks. i did apply for and receive fmla pay. i have the email trails of most of our electronic exchanges which clearly show that they stopped replying to me after receiving the doctor release. i have phone records of their one call to me during which we discussed my tentative return date and decided may 1. i faxed the release to the company which was may 1. i followed up with emails and phone calls with no response. finally, i left a voicemail that i would be in the office on may 1 assuming that it was ok. then, on the morning of may 1, they scanned and emailed the letter to me stating they could no longer "hold my position". if it doesn't violate the law which requires them to hold my position in the event of leave due to pregnancy then i am curious as to whether it is wrongful termination since there were no concrete grounds to terminate or let me go. i never received any phone calls, emails, letters, warnings, etc. besides the may 1 letter. they are trying their best to not pay me unemployent. to EDD they claimed i abandoned the job by not ever returning nor making efforts to return, which is absolutely not true. however, in their letter they neither state that i am terminated nor do they mention that i failed to return to work. they simply said that my disability leave and fmla expired and they could not "hold my position". thanks for the well wishes!

 

[turbowray]

once again ill start by saying i am not an expert in this area

I would imagine that since the leave you needed to take was longer than fmla leave offers,that they could legally find someone else for your job because it was a hardship to the company to wait longer than the fmla time. I hope i am wrong and the senior members will be able to help you on this,but i really really think that they are only obligated to hold your position for the maximum amount of time the fmla covers and no more. Sorry if this is the case...i cant wait for a senior member to let us know!

 

[cbg]

Unless you were operating under a bona fide contract that specifically states otherwise or there is a state law that says otherwise, the longest an employer is required to hold your job for you is twelve weeks. Granted, CA does grant longer leaves for pregnancy. But if I am adding this up right, you were out for nearly nine months, which is longer than your employer is required to hold your job even if you qualified for every possible leave available in your state (and we don't know that you did). That being the case, this is not a wrongful termination. The employer is not required to hold your job open indefinitely, no matter how valid the medical reason; there comes a point when they are allowed to cut you loose and hire someone who is able to come to work.

 

[j2t]

Hmmm...OK. Now, can they lay me off/terminate me without giving me warnings or requesting my return? It just so happened that while I was on disability leave, the executive whom I assisted left the company and I technically had no position. Verbally, we talked about my return in terms of not only time but what position I could go back to. The thing is that I was contacting them to pin down a date for my return and the impending "new" position and they never called me or emailed me back. They basically ignored and avoided me until my FMLA time expired. They are trying to make it look as if I abandoned the job so as to deny me unemployement. With that spin on it, is that wrongful termination at all?

 

[mlane58]

Hmmm...OK. Now, can they lay me off/terminate me without giving me warnings or requesting my return? It just so happened that while I was on disability leave, the executive whom I assisted left the company and I technically had no position. Verbally, we talked about my return in terms of not only time but what position I could go back to. The thing is that I was contacting them to pin down a date for my return and the impending "new" position and they never called me or emailed me back. They basically ignored and avoided me until my FMLA time expired. They are trying to make it look as if I abandoned the job so as to deny me unemployement. With that spin on it, is that wrongful termination at all?

As cbg clearly stated, you were out for 9 months and an employer isn't required by law to hold your position for that length of time. No matter what spin you try or feel to put on it, nothing illegal has transpired in regards to your termination.

 

[cbg]

No, with that spin on it, it is STILL not wrongful termination.

There is STILL no law requiring them to hold your job for nine months.

 

[turbowray]

well

it seems to me that even though there were conversations about bringing you in under a different job , since the job you held was no longer there,they decided that the wait was to much at some point. I would think that since your job was no longer available anyhow,they weren't breaking any laws by not giving you a different job. I could be wrong but since you said they made the decision after your fmla time ran out,you no longer had any legal coverage on the final decision anyhow. It was an unfair move,but perfectly legal..sorry poster and i hope you find a better place to work for!

 

[mohanna]

California- Hi. When I was 5 months pregnant, I was ordered to bedrest by my doctor. I gave birth in Jan. 2006. Countless times I attempted dialogue, phone call, emails, etc but my employer avoided me and I received no return correspondence. Then on May 1, my now former employer sent a letter stating they could not hold my position. When I applied for unemployment, my employer tried to refute claiming that they contacted me, that I did not respond, then, that I had not reported back to work on my own volition. Do I have a case for wrongful termination?

OMG if you live in the state of California you need a lawyer yesterday

 

[Shay-Pari'e]

OMG if you live in the state of California you need a lawyer yesterday

OMG! You are just DUMB!