I work in a small dental office with 9 employees. Prior to my maternity leave I discussed with the office manager/H.R. about changing my work week from 5 days to 4 days. She said that was fine. I am scheduled to return to work on 2/16/09. I spoke to my office manager last week and she advised me that the boss informed her that I could not go to a 4 day work week because I was hired to work 5 days a week. My office manager and other employee work 4 days a week (they use to work 5 days). Can my boss single me out? She is basically telling me to work 5 days or else quit.

Now prior to my leave, during the summer, a girl that was hired to work 4 days a week asked for more hours. The solution they came up with was to alternate one day with me. They forced me to take Wednesdays off every other week in order to accommodate her. I brought up the fact that I was hired to work 5 days a week and she was hired to work 4 days a week so it wasn't fair that I should be forced to take a day off. They said she was hired 4 days with the possiblity of 5 days in the future????? Since I was requesting time off for prenatal appoinments, I now had a day I could take care of that without it affecting the office.

Am I being treated unfairly? I feel like the boss wants me to quit because she keeps bending the rules to my work schedule as she sees fit. They need my response this week, that way they can "start looking for someone" if I don't agree to their "terms".

Your employer is required to reinstate you to the same position you had prior to taking PDL. I do not believe they are required to allow you to return part time, or to a reduced schedule unless it's medically advisable. Did your boss agree prior to your leave that your new schedule would be 4 days from here on out?

Forcing you to take one day off may be problematic if they did it because you were taking PDL. But it also seems like they did it to accommodate another employee, not necessarily because of your PDL. You would have to be able to show that it was motivated (at least partially) because you were taking time off for prenatal appts.