How do I make a long story short.........

I recently took a 12 week maternity leave on February 11th. This was preapproved and everything was dandy before I left, as well as the few times I stopped in the office during my leave. I received a letter from my work on Monday March 30th stating that due to the lack of work the are treating my asbsence at the end of my PTO as a voluntary termination and I can return on August 1st as a new employee.

Problem: My work only has about 23 employees and doesn't meet OFLA requirements. The owner is lying and saying he didn't approve the leave and that I demanded 3 months off but that he told me it would be voluntary termination. He also states they do not have a "maternity leave" policy and that the employee handbook says I would be voluntary terminated after my PTO.

He is lying and contradicting himself in the correspondence we have had this week. I looked at the handbook and it does not say those things. It also has a disabilty leave which includes pregnancy and it allows 12 weeks. I have complications and ended up having an unscheduled C-section but I didn't get a letter from the doctor (which she offered me but I didn't take it because my boss had already agreed to give me 12 weeks off).

What can I do and what are my rights? It is very clear that although they are saying I can come back in August it won't happen. I have worked there since May 1, 2007 and I am a full-time salary employee.

Please help me because my boss is being untruthful and dishonest.

Since you have been there such a short amount of time and there are so few employees, and there is a lack of work, yes they can terminate/lay you off until August when things pick up again. under the law you would only be entitled to be treated as any other employee. If they don't get 3 months off, then you aren't guaranteed it either. Even if others have been permitted 3 months off, if you would have been let go for lack of work, the fact that you are now on leave won't change that.

They are not calling it a termination or layoff, they are saying I "voluntarily terminated" myself by being on maternity leave. But this comes only after they authorized my leave. Are there not any laws that protect pregnancy?

Here is the other kicker. They are hiring 3 new employees to start in May and June, during the "slow period" that I can't come back to work. And it is for the same position as mine!

Do you have the authorization in writing?

Since you and the company don't qualify for any form of job-protected leave, the company's legal obligation is to treat you no differently than it would any similiarly situated employee who needed 12 weeks of leave for a non-maternity medical reason. If someone who's been with the company less than one year needed 12 weeks of leave for a broken leg or back surgery and would also be terminated, then it's not illegal to do so in your case.

I wish I had it in writing but I don't. The thought never crossed my mind this would happen and I trusted them so I didn't. I might have correspondence mentioned in an email but they disabled my user id so I can't go back and look.

Yes they do have a disability policy and I could get something from my doctor now but I didn't have her write me one when I left. I ended up leaving almost 3 weeks early due to complications and had the baby less than a week from when they noticed the complications, so maybe that will help in not having time to provide written documentation, although they had a verbal one.

I do want to pursue a civil rights case but I want to make sure that I have a possible case to do so first.

What is the disability policy? How long does it guarantee you can take off? Does it promise you will be returned at the end of leave? Have others who were off for different reasons but only been there less than a year been treated differently? Was submitting medical documentation necessary? I can't imagine they would not have asked for documentation at the very least. Have you asked about the positions/ new hires starting in May and June? Is seems very unusal that they would know they are hiring 3 people 3 months in advance.

I work at a CPA firm. It's not uncommon to know you are going to hire people up to a year in advance if it's a new student. I have not asked about it because I wasn't sure if I should bring it up in my email. I wanted to stay professional and didn't know if bringing up anothers employement was appropiate.

They did not ask for documentation because it happend unexpected and they didn't need it because they had already approved me to take 12 weeks off from the time of my baby's birth.

Nobody has taken a disability leave as far as I'm aware, so I don't have an answer for that. the Policy does state you have to be a full time or part time employee and you can have no more than 12 weeks off. It doesn't say anything about having to be there a year like other sections in the handbook does.