Maternity Leave in Montana
Posted by Tamara
Montana employees may wonder if a worker on maternity leave can be fired or laid off. The answer to this is not a clear one. It depends upon the circumstances.
Employees in most states are entitled to up to 12 weeks of unpaid family leave under the FMLA, or the federal Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993. This type of leave can be used for a variety of purposes, including to bond with a newly adopted baby or newborn, or with a recently placed foster child.
There are eleven states that have significant family leave laws of their own. These states are Wisconsin, Washington, Vermont, Rhode Island, Oregon, New Jersey, Minnesota, Maine, Hawaii, Connecticut, and California.
Generally speaking, FMLA guarantees that workers will receive their jobs back when they return from leave. Should that be impossible, then the employee would be entitled to a position with the same benefits, working conditions, and compensation as before his or her leave.
As an example, suppose that Evelyn, an administrative assistant, goes on maternity leave. While she is gone, her supervisor, Charlie, is assigned a new administrative assistant named Susan. When it is time for Evelyn to return to work, Charlie decides that he prefers Susan’s work. However, there is no comparable job that has the same benefits and working conditions for Evelyn. What Charlie wants to do is lay Evelyn off and keep Susan. In this situation, laying Evelyn off would most likely be illegal.
If, on the other hand, an employer has a general layoff, and numerous people are affected, then pregnant employees, or those on maternity leave, are not exempt from the layoffs.
In the previous example, suppose that Evelyn’s company is downsizing and has decided to lay off 50% of their workforce, including ten administrative assistants. Companies are allowed to determine which employees to lay off based on seniority, and Evelyn falls into that group. Under such circumstances, Evelyn can be laid off, and it does not matter if she is on maternity or FMLA leave.
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