I AM 4 WEEKS BEFORE MY DUE DATE AND MY OB IS READY TO PULL ME OFF OF WORK. AT THE VERY BEGINNING OF MY PREGNANCY I WAS PULLED OFF WORK FOR ABOUT 8 WEEK DUE TO MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND WAS NAMED A HIGH RISK PREGNANCY. MY COMPANY USED MY VACATION TIME TO PAY ME WHILE I WAS ON FMLA. NOW THE SAY REGARDLESS OF DOCTORS ORDERS I NEED TO WORK UP UNTIL MY DUE DATE BECAUSE I ONLY HAVE 4 WEEKS LEFT OF FMLA DUE TO THE PROBLEMS AT THE BEGINNING. THEY ARE TELLING ME THAT IF I CAN NOT RETURN IMMEDIATELY AFTER MY SONS BIRTH THAT I WILL BE TERMINATED SINCE I CAN NOT RETURN TO WORK IN A GIVEN TIME FRAME TO PERFORM JOB DUTIES. MY DOCTOR WILL NOT EVEN BE RELEASING ME UNTIL AFTER MY 6 WEEK CHECK - UP AFTER GIVING BIRTH. CAN THEY DO THIS TO ME? :confused: THEY ALSO STATED TO ME THAT I CAN BE TERMINATED EVEN THOUGH I AM UNDER DOCTORS CARE WITH AN ESTIMATED RETURN DATE. I LIVE IN THE STATE OF TEXAS

Please do not type in all caps; it makes your post very hard to read and is considered shouting on the Internet.

Texas has no state-mandated disability or maternity law and under Federal law you are entitled to a TOTAL of 12 weeks per 12 month period. When you have exhausted the 12 weeks, your employer has no legal obligation to return you to your same position or even to continue your employment at all, no matter how legitimate the need for additional medical leave. Being under a doctor's care does NOT mean that you cannot be terminated. If you have used up the time allowed you under the law, they do not have to keep you employed any longer.

I did not mean to offend you by typing in all caps!!!!!!!!! :D

You didn't offend me; just passing on a tip for Net etiquette. Some people will completely ignore a post that is in all caps.

cbg is right -- one further thing to look at,though, is how others who have taken FMLA have been treated if they didn't come back when their leave was up. If others have had their jobs held open for a few extra weeks beyond their 12 week FMLA leaves, then the same courtesy should be extended to you.

One note: if you don't come back after 12 weeks, you lose the job protection that the FMLA gives you. So, if you were terminated, or if you were moved to another position that was not comparable to your former position, you might have a lawsuit under a discrimination statute, but you would not have a case under the FMLA.

One other thought: you should look at your employer's personnel policies to see how your employer calculates the 12 month period for taking FMLA leave. Employers are free to choose calendar year, year from your anniversary (hire) date, or a year from the time your last leave started -- but the employer has to choose a method and can't have different methods for different employees or different situations. If your employer has chosen to use the anniversary of your date of hire as the beginning of the 12-month period in which you can take leave, for example, it may be possible that the leave you took early in your pregnancy was in one 12 month period and a new 12 month period has started now that you are at the end of your pregnancy. Chances are this isn't going to help you, but it is worth looking at.

Good luck!

Cynthia
WorkLife Law

*The foregoing is provided for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.