We have an employee who has been on Pregnancy Leave for 6 weeks and was scheduled to return to work at the end of the six weeks. She did not return to work, nor did she notify the company of further leave.

Upon contacting the employee, the company was notified that she is planning to go on PFL for an additional six weeks.

The company does not fall under FMLA or CFRA.

The employee held a vital position to the day-to-day operation of the company. We pulled another individual from a different dept. to cover the initial 6 week leave, but we need to put this person back in their dept. for bottom line reasons. We need someone in her position, immediately. We are going to hire someone new - and are unsure of the laws regarding her position.

We ARE NOT going to lay her off, when she returns we would like to place her in another department.

The questions are:

1. Are we facing any legal consequences if we do not allow her to return to her original position?

2. Do we have to maintain her original pay if the new position is a lower paying position?

3. We understand that under her initial pregnancy leave (6 weeks) we were obligated to hold her position and pay, but do the laws change under PFL?

If she is on PFL, then you can move her and cut her pay. Make sure that her doctor did not extend her disability first, though.

For future employees or employers in California, there are two pregancy leave laws that apply to companys that have at least 5 employees. An employees is entitles to take pregnancy disability leave up to four months AND in addition are entitles to 12 weeks CFRA leave to bond with a child.

Employees must be guaranteed return to the same position. If her same position is no longer available, such as in a layoff fue to plant closure, the employer must offer a position that is comparable in terms of pay, location, job content, and promotional opportunities, unless the employer can prove that no comparable position exists.

So as an employer I hope you looked into this

I would imagine that the employer did so, since this thread is over 2 1/2 years old.