Legal Question in Disability Law in California

Re: Maternity leave

A very good question. An employer can do anything, yes they can fire you even if it is illegal conduct. If you are on medically approved disability leave due to your disability, workers compensation injury, pregnancy or Family Medical Leave Act, there are provisions of each law which protect you (or any employee) under certain standards from retalation and termination for a period of time. However, the employer is NOT required to hold your position open for ever and your protections are not limitless. Therefore, it is extremely important that you provide me or any attorney you speak to with specifics about your condition, your reason for leave, terms of the leave, lenght of the leave, size of the employer, length of your employer and if the leave has been approved to help you assess your situation.

Please feel free to contact my office or an attorney in yoru area should you have any additional questions.

Sincerely, Beth Mora

Re: Maternity leave

It depends on the facts of your situation. If there were more than 5 employees at your workplace, you are protected by California's Pregnancy Disability Law, which allows up to four months of leave if you are disabled by the pregnancy. You may then be able to take another 12 weeks of leave under the California Family Rights Act (and maybe more than that depending upon your employer's written policies.) Finally California's ant-discrimination laws (similar to the Americans with Disabilities Act) give employees certain rights to take leave, and to be accommodated if they need some additional leave time. You write "maternity leave," but don't specify provide any more details -- how much leave did you take? Did the employer grant the leave? Was it designated as "maternity leave" or something else? The specific facts are critical to an answer to your question -- other things I would want to look at are the union contract (if there is one) and your employer's written employment policies. The employer is also required to follow various laws in designating leave. I would want to see if those laws were broken. Feel free to write my private email if you want to provide more information, or if you want to send me paperwork to review. Good luck.

Re: Maternity leave

Yes, just as any other at-will employee. Except that, you are entitled to your pregnancy, family and other leaves under state and federal law, and should be terminated effective at the end of the leave. However, firing you would certainly be 'suspicious', and would have to be well founded in business necessity, or risk an expensive discrimination lawsuit. Just how bad would that look to you if you were a juror?? So, if they do anything that looks like retaliation, feel free to contact me to discuss your case value.