Wife was begged to come work for company located in maryland.....they didn't even want her to work a notice at her previous employer, because of the urgency of a government contract. Wife worked a notice and since she was pregnant, she urged her new employer to explain their plan for her "maternity leave".....they insisted.... don't worry......we will take care of you. after a few months, they asked her to cut back hours due to loss of the major contract, but they wanted to keep her on board because she was good at her job. we just had our baby.......eight days after the baby was born they call and "lay her off" because with the war going on.... the government hasn't kept current on paying their contracts.... :rolleyes: she was offered a referal letter and 3 weeks severence..........is she being taken advantage of or is what they are doing legit? :confused: any help would be appreciated, we live outside of the state and current advice is unavailible.....i don't want my wife walked on! they begged her to work for them and then?????

is she being taken advantage of or is what they are doing legit? It sure appears that what they're doing is legit. I doubt they would have hired your wife if they knew these problems were going to arise. They lost a major contract and now aren't getting paid for the one they have. There's every reason to assume that your wife would have been laid-off regardless of her pregnancy and leave. I don't see that anything unlawful has taken place.

Hi, Stuck --

If others were laid off and if the loss of the contract is really true, then I agree with Beth.

On occasion, however, employees have sued their employers for fraud and/or breach of contract in similar situations. For a fraud suit, your wife would have to prove that they company knew they were likely to lose the contract at the time they were inducing her to come work in Maryland. For breach of contract, your wife would have to prove that the company promised to take care of her or made other promises related to her employment. (Unfortunately, Maryland does not recognize an implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing in employment contracts, so that type of claim is out.)

This is getting beyond the scope of this forum, though -- you may want to contact a local attorney. Many of the local bar associations in the state have lawyer referral services.

Cynthia