Worked for small lawfirm outside of Hammond, LA. Started on October 24, 2005. Atty announced that the office would not be open the last week of December. Obtained permission to be off that week (in abundance of caution) and went with hubby to St. Louis to visit son and wife.

Arrived home around noon yesterday and called in to see what/if hours would be for Monday (New Years?). Was told by office mgr that she would call me back before 4:30 pm to let me know.

Office Mgr called back at 4:30pm and said that Atty could not afford to pay me anymore and that she had my personal things and I could meet her today to get them outside of Baton Rouge (where she lives) to exchange for key to office.

I was hired on October 7th and given two weeks to give notice and complete the two weeks at the firm I previously worked for. The other paralegal was hired and started working immediately on October 17th. I was hired FIRST. I am 48 years old and the other paralegal is 23 years old.

I was making $12.50/hr to start with promise of $15.00 in 90 days. Other paralegal making $11.00/hr. I have an Associates Degree in Paralegal Studies and she does not.

Is this ok laborlaw wise to let me go and keep her? She also does not show up for work regularly, which caused the Atty to have temper tantrums - but not in her presence.

I had perfect attendance, worked overtime as asked, did all of his personal crap for him in addition to coming up to speed as quickly as possible with a pre-existing caseload assignment of 89 plus files. The other paralegal had around 50 cases.

I am at a loss here, as I left other employment for this job.

Yes, under labor laws, this is legal. You can be laid off in spite of being over 40, just not because of it. Nothing in the law says the employer must use seniority in deciding who to keep and who to let go, and nothing in the law says they can't use who is the higher paid in making the decison. It would only be illegal if they kept the other girl and laid you off BECAUSE of your age.

I live in Louisiana too. The only thing that I can think of, and it would be a bit of a stretch legally, is "detrimental reliance."

In an employment sense, detrimental reliance in our state is usually limited to employers that extend an offer, and then rescind it for no apparent reason, and as a result, an employee suffers damages. Your employer really should have known before they hired you that they couldn't afford you.

Here is the link for our exact code of law:
http://www.legis.state.la.us/lss/lss.asp?doc=109218