I Have been out of work since late April for complications with my pregnacy. I just had the baby in September and 4 days later I was told by my employer that I was terminated for being out longer than 4 months. I planned on returning in 6 weeks after the baby was born. My company has the main office in California and has an officein NJ. I don't work in the office. I get work from a storage unit they have and work at diferent areas every day. Can they do this? What laws apply, NJ or CA? Thanks for any light you can shed on a dreary day

Before birth, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act should cover you meaning you are to be treated like any other disabled employee and post-birth and some pre-birth time the Family medical Leave Act should apply to you. It is hard to answer not knowing the employer policy, but you should not be considered out, but considered a person with a short term disability.

What laws apply, NJ or CA? The laws of the State you work in apply.

Under the FMLA, your employer is only obligated to provide you with 12 weeks of medical leave. I'm not an expert on CA reg's (where I presume you are although you haven't said) but I believe they have a State pregnancy leave act that provides for four months of maternity leave time. Please note that these two laws run concurrently - you don't get 12 weeks of FMLA and then 4 months of pregnancy leave. You get four months in total.

As long as you have received the maximum amount of leave time to which you were statutorily entitled and have not been treated less advantageously than any other employee would be who needed medical leave for reasons other than pregnancy, nothing illegal has occurred and your employer was free to terminate your employment if you were unable to return to work after four months of leave.

Before birth, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act should cover you meaning you are to be treated like any other disabled employee and post-birth and some pre-birth time the Family medical Leave Act should apply to you. It is hard to answer not knowing the employer policy, but you should not be considered out, but considered a person with a short term disability.

elklaw, I don't mean to pick apart your answer but you have several different legal and benefit issues all mushed together there or at least are trying to explain them in a way that wouldn't make any sense to someone who wouldn't already know exactly what you are trying to say.

What is the problem is that I was put out of work early by the doctor and had just had the baby at almost 5 months that I out. I had the baby on a Thursday and my boss said she got the termination on Friday. I still need time to recover so it would have been 6 months out. I did not go on leave by choice I was out on disablty. The disability wasn't permanent so I don't understand how they can fire me when I am on disablilty.

I understand but none of that matters. Your employer is only obligated to provide you with four months of leave time. That's all the law requires.