Legal Question in Employment Law in California

No, if for proper business economic reasons you had to hire someone to take her place, then she would have no legal basis to claim you have to give her her old position back. You are not allowed to discriminate against a person because of an industrial injury, but you also do not have to create a new position for them or hire them back to there old position if it has been filled. if you wish more re-assurance, speak to your WC insurance company and see if they can verify this; they may say that that is beyond the scope of their contractual relationship with you.

Talk to your WCAB attorney to decide what risk if any you have of a claim of 'retaliation' by her. Make your decision once you get that advice.

Other than that, in general, unless an employee is civil service, in a union, or has a written employment contract, they are an 'at will' employee that can be disciplined or fired any time for any reason, with or without �cause�, explanation or notice, unless it is based upon illegal discrimination, harassment or retaliation under the ADA disability, Civil Rights [age, race, sex, ethnic, religion, pregnancy, etc], Whistle-blower, or similar statutes. The employee's goal should be to keep the employer happy and make the company money. That�s how they pay wages.

Now unless this employee fits one of those categories where retaliation could be claimed, you probably have no risk of valid suit for refusing to rehire.

If you want specific legal help in this, free to contact me.