Complicated Situation

[skmcgowen]

I fill two positions at my current employer, at the convenient price of one. I was hired full-time after notifying my employer that I was pregnant, and I am due within the month. I have an unpaid intern who was hired for PR/Marketing/Events, but I am also in charge of accounts receivables, accounts payables, and some HR stuff. I have been training the intern to take over the daily operations for the company while I am on maternity leave, but the Executive Director has refused to pay her while I am gone. He insists she was hired for the position as an unpaid employee, but taking over for me during maternity leave was not part of the job description. My leave is unpaid. This I expected. But is it legal for him to expect her to take over a full-time position for up to 6 weeks, unpaid? I did not expect him to pay her my salary, but an hourly wage is a reasonable expection.

I have planned to cut short my maternity leave as a result of this. It is so far beyond my ethical spectrum that I cannot fathom even making this kind of a request of an employee, intern or not. My question regarding my truncated leave is: Is my employer obligated to the 6 full weeks? In other words, if I want to take 2 weeks off to begin, and another week here and there, is he obligated to honor it?

We are not subject to FMLA because we have fewer than 15 employees, even though we are technically part of the state (we are run like a non-profit, and the majority of our operating budget comes from an endowment, not state allocations). I am also not eligible for health care, sick leave, vacation, etc., because I am still under the 90 day probationary period, although I do have 4 comp days saved.

I realize this is a long, complicated question, but I am at my wits' end with this employer.

[LConnell]

I believe that this is a double post. Your answer can be seen on the other forum. Let me know if you have any other questions.