I have been working for a company now for 18 months and just resently got "let go". I have a BS in engineering and have been working in the field for only 3 years. The company I work for was one of several small companies (> 50 employees) that was bought and merged to form one large company in Jan 2006. The company began a hiring spree in April 2006. Before long there were 4 people squeezed into one office, all women with non-related job duties (engineer, receptionist, drafter, router). There was one woman employed that had her own office, but she was part of another department in a completely seperate building. All other male staff members had their own offices. We were told that construction would begin soon for new offices. I began working from home in March 2006 due to the restrictive space in which I had to work, this decision was supported by the company. I was 7 months pregnant at that time. Plans had been drawn up for construction that included me a private office once I returned from maternity leave. I took my maternity leave in May 2006. When I returned back to work (6 weeks later), I learned that the 7 newly built offices had been given to other staff members while I was out, but the company had another idea for expansion and I would be included in the next phase. They suggested I share an office with another female employee or I could set up computer in a "walk though" area between main office and shop. I expressed to them that I would remain working from my home office until my office was ready. Once again, the company did not have a problem with this. All the female employees are still sharing offices (2 offices with 2 people in each) at one end of the new building.
During the next couple of weeks that followed, I would go into the office to print out drawings/pick up standards that I needed to do my job with. I found out, from another employee, that while I was out on maternity leave the company had restructured their managment and was having weekly meetings on Thursday mornings. Also, this employee gave me a copy of the new management memo, that I had never received,and was addressed to all employees. I was astonished at what the memo listed. I am the only engineer on staff with 3 drafters in the design department. The company had made one of the drafters the manager/head of engineering department. He has been out of drafting school for approximately 4-5 years and has no education or background in engineering. I made a decision not to verbally address the new management for clarification at that time, for fear of my own emotional response. I sent an email to the new "engineering manager" (the draftsman) asking him if he was now actively participating in the enigneering. His response to me was that he was not doing any engineering work. Now, I have been let go and their explanation was that they needed to hire someone with a great deal (many years) of experience to perform the design/engineering of new components. They did not offer any severance package or pay out of benefits, just one more complete paycheck. I was a salaried employee and they pay bi-weekly, therefore they were not giving me anything extra in terms of monetary benefits. They also told me that my insurance would run out at the end of this month.
I have several questions: Does this sound like discrimination? If so, what are my options? Do I quilify for COBRA? Is my company required to offer a severance package? Am I entitled to any unused sick, holiday, or vacation pay that I have acrued for this year? Any information you can offer or links to where I can research this myself would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.

I don't believe that making you share an office qualifies as discriminatory behavior.

When you decided to work out of the home, you took the chance that you would miss some of the communications in the office. It was YOUR responsibility to make sure that all communications found their way to you.

I don't believe that giving someone else a promotion qualifies as discriminatory behavior even if you believe them to be underqualified for the position.

It is not illegal to fire you and hire someone else to do your job.

Can you clarify where you believe you were discriminated against?

I'm not seeing discrimination either. If they need someone with stronger skills, that is a perfectly legitimate reason to let you go and hire someone else. Nothing you shared indicates that this is a ruse to fire you for being female. If you are the only engineer, they may not have been able to do without you and promoted one of the many drafters to this other position. It isn't clear if you applied for this job or even expressed interest in it.

I don't know that I was, by definition, descriminated against. That is why I posted for help/opinions.

I do feel that the men and women were treated differently within this work environment. Giving you the situations of the office sharing was only one example. I personally don't mind sharing an office space, but ALL of the women in this building were required to share offices. The men were not.

These management/promotional changes were made while I was out on maternity leave. They had no problem communicating with me while I was on leave to do work for them here and there. Maybe they already knew at that time that they would eventually let me go and didn't feel it was necessary to inform me of the changes when I first returned. If the legality of communication was entirely my burden, that's fine then I'll carry it.

Thank you for your input.

I appreciate both of your responses and feel better about your unbiased opinions.

This is a first, hopefully last, time being let go by an employer. It is a stressful/emotional time for anyone who finds themself unemployed.

Do you know where I might find information on severance (my understanding is that it's not required -is this correct?) sick or vacation pay? Am I entitled to COBRA?

You are correct that severance is not required. Neither is payout of sick pay. Louisiana is one of the states that does require the payout of earned but unused vacation pay; that is not necessarily all the vacation you would have been eligible for this year. If you were covered on the company health plan, you will be eligible for COBRA. (They have up to 44 days to provide you with the notification.)