In Utah, a worker on maternity leave has her job protected under the Family and Medical Leave Act or FMLA.  However, under certain conditions, a layoff or termination could still occur.

The FMLA entitles an employee, by federal law, to 12 weeks of unpaid job-protected leave to care for a newborn infant, an immediate family member with a serious health condition, a newly placed adoptee, or a foster child.  When the employee returns to her job, she is guaranteed the same working conditions, benefits and wages she had before.

For example, Katie, a payroll clerk, goes on a 12-week maternity leave.  While she is away, her employer decides to replace her with Teri.  Her boss likes the quality of Teri’s work so he decides to keep Teri in that position.  When Katie returns the company has no other positions available with similar duties, benefits and wages. Katie’s employer wants to transfer her to a different job in the company. Under FMLA guidelines, that decision would be illegal.   

However, there are circumstances where Katie could be terminated even if she is on maternity leave. If during Katie’s absence the company is facing a financial crisis and needs to downsize, Katie could be laid off. If the layoff is based on job seniority then Katie could lose her position regardless of FMLA.  But, she cannot be laid off because she is pregnant, or on FMLA leave, no matter what the other circumstances may be.

The Pregnancy Discrimination Act is a federal law that prohibits employers from discriminating against a female worker simply because she is pregnant.  But the law does not bar an employer from terminating or laying off a pregnant woman as long as other workers have been treated the same in a similar circumstance.

There are 11 states in the nation that have their own family leave laws.  In addition to Connecticut , they are, California, Maine, Hawaii, New Jersey, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Oregon, Washington, Vermont and Wisconsin. 

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This entry was posted on Thursday, June 5th, 2008 at 5:14 am and is filed under FMLA - Family Medical Leave Acts, Labor & Employment Laws. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.