Materinty Leave

There are a lot of different factors to look into as many of the other members have already mentioned. I would most certainly do your homework because you may very well be in the right. I am pregnant myself and am expected to be on leave in early September. I do know by law in IL that they are required to hold your job up to 12 weeks IF you are on FMLA. Do your research though... you never ever know what can come of this.

Did you go beyond the 12 week FMLA time period? Legally, they do not have to hold your job beyond this.

There are a lot of variables involved including how long you were already on leave as stated below. Your best answer would be to contact an attorney, find one that gives free consultations, and ask for a consultation. Ask what information you will need to have at the consultation so you go prepared and get the right answer the first time. If you exhausted your FMLA then there is not much you can do other than file for unemployment. good luck.

You need to check with FMLA laws. You are guaranteed, by law, 60 days of leave. If you were under the 60 days, you were wrongfully fired. If you went past, there's not a whole lot to do.

I agree with the advice you've been given. Call a lawyer. I was laid off at 32 weeks pregnant and was also employed by a large company. Because they didn't want any bad publicity, I was able to negotiate 6 months severance which would have covered me until my due date and a decent maternity leave, which is what I thought was fair. By law, they are only allowed to hold your job for 12 weeks but I think they need to offer you an alternate job at equal or lesser pay before terminating you. Also, if delaying your return to work was a medical necessity, you might qualify for short-term disability - look into that too! Either way, if this is a lay off, you are definitely eligible for unemployment - and if you negotiate a severance, that doesn't count against what you collect for unemployment in the state of Illinois. Best of luck. Total bummer but take this as an opportunity to spend some time with your new baby!

There are just so many things that could've factored into this happening - Impossible to speculate about your options. Best way to find it out is to file for unemployment. I remember several years ago, a past employer hadn't been very careful in documenting all the steps they took before firing....And the employee was more or less able to come back though in a different position. If your employer has enough documentation; thing like:

Tardy or excessive absence
Negative performance reviews
Negative customer input
Fraud...Or not being found to be completely truthful or ethical in your professional capacity (calling in sick when you weren't. saying you completed a task when you didn't)

Then they can fire you. If you had only worked there for X months, then you also fall under "at will" and they can fire you without cause.

Another option employers can use, is "reorganization" which basically means, it is not so much that they fired you but that they eliminated or significantly changed your position. Very little recourse for you in such a situation.

The other issue at hand is that you are talking about something that happened in October. I assume you have filed for unemployment? If so, your case was probably at least marginally reviewed and found to be reasonable.

Several questions:

Did you qualify for FMLA? (employed with company for at least 12 months and worked at least 1250 hours in the previous 12 months)
Did they put you on FMLA leave?
If they did, did you get your full 12 weeks?
And id you use al 12 weeks?

I fyou qualified for FMLA, and did indeed get all 12 weeks and used them all, then there's not a lot you can do, although some would argue that 2 additional weeks is not that much of a hardship. If any of these variables were not met, then that changes my response.

Other thing you need to take into consideration is are you in a right to hire, right to fire state. Plays a big part! Not sure if IL is one.

I'm shocked! If that happened on this side of the waters they'd be sued. I'd take them for every penny I could. I don't know how it works over there but I'd certainly look into it & take it further if I could, they cannot be allowed to get away with unfair dismissal. I wish you all the luck & hope you have great results, best wishes x

Have you contacted the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Illinois Office of Human Rights to file a discrimination complaint? Claims must be filed within a certain time; you need to check this out asap.

It's a crappy thing to do, but I think they have the right if you exceeded the 12 weeks that they are guaranteed to hold your job. However, I still think you qualify for unemployment.