Ok, so I have a friend who recently had a very difficult pregnancy--including a few weeks of bedrest, etc. She's been at her job at a very large corporation, for three years now, and gets an annual bonus that's usually 30-40% of her base salary. After the maternity leave, she got her year-end bonus, and it was cut by roughly 80% from the year before. The company claims it was a bad year and everyone is down...however, she doesn't think anyone else is down more than 25%.

Is it possible to pursue this without putting her current job in danger? If so, any advice?

Thanks.

How long was she off work?

She was off 8 weeks for maternity leave, + 1 week of "family care time". She worked from home for a two weeks of bedrest.

Does she have any proof that others actually received the same bonuses as before or does she just suspect they might?

It may also depend what the bonus is based on and whether those who missed a similar amount of time also received less of a bonus.

Unfortunately, she just suspects at this point. As usual, bonuses are supposed to be confidential.

No one else missed a similar amount of time in the bonus pool that year. In prior years a person who took 6 weeks medical leave had a similar reduction and is currently suing.

For all employment related purposes, FMLA leave is supposed to be "invisible." But as Elle commented, much depends upon how the bonus is structured. If, for example, your friend receives a bonus based on a percent of sales she makes and her sales were down because she was off work for 8 weeks, then that's life. If, on the other hand, bonuses are determined as a percent of overall profits, then her leave should have no impact.

I imagine what your friend should do is speak to her manager and/or HR and inquire about the calculation of her bonus and why it's so much less this year than it was last year.

There is no formula for bonus. It's basically a completely subjective number based on work contribution. If it was down 25%, I don't think she could say anything, down 75% is another matter.

Same advice as before. Your friend should talk to her boss and/or HR and ask for specific reasons why her bonus is down so much. If, after that, she still thinks it may be because she took FMLA leave, then she may want to speak with an employment law attorney.