My wife had our first child 3 years ago. When she had our child she took maternity leave. When she returned to work she changed to a part-time position. She has been part-time since that point (she's been with the company over 10 years, 3 years part-time). Earlier this year my wife had our second child and again took maternity leave. Upon returning from maternity leave she was told that either she has to quit or take a full-time position in the company. Is it legal for a company to do this?

Thanks for any help,
Phil

That depends. If she had not taken maternity leave would they still be requiring that she go full time?

It's hard to say. She has been in this same position for at least 5 years and has been doing it part-time for the last 3. There was no discussions with her or warnings that it would become full-time.

It makes a difference, though.

She cannot be punished FOR taking maternity leave. But maternity leave does not protect her from a change that would have occurred regardless.

I understand what you're saying. The problem is that if mgmt and hr discussed this, my wife was not privy to that information, only the ultimate outcome. I guess that is the rub.