What are my rights?

[junebaby]

I have been employed by a very large corporation in Colorado for a year and a half. I am currently 7 months pregnant and plan on taking my maternity leave (which I qualify for) and am unsure about my decision to go back to work. I haven't discussed maternity leave with my boss yet because I was told by the HR department that I didn't need to do so until 28 days prior to my due date. I was also told that if I decided that I would not return to work after taking my maternity leave, I did not forfeit any of those benefits.

Today I sent an email to the leave of absence administrator asking her questions about PTO and STD and she copied my boss in her reply to me. Thus, my boss found out that I may not return to work after my maternity leave. My boss called me into her office and told me that she feels like I am taking advantage of the company and that she doesn't understand why I would want to "burn my bridges with the company". She said she isn't from my generation thank god and that she can't understand why I would use and abuse the company by using all my PTO and taking maternity leave if I am not planning on returning to work. She said other things to make me feel like I was immoral for even thinking of taking the maternity leave and any available PTO and then quitting.

I feel a bit guilty, especially since I did not meet my production goals in the last 6 months. However, since my annual review 1 month ago I have succeeded in meeting my production goals. I have only been given 1 warning regarding my production and according to the company standard I have 3 warnings prior to termination. Again, I have been meeting my goals since my 1 warning a month ago. The reason I bring this up is because today she said she is going to demote me now. She was extremely angry during our meeting and she even said she was considering firing me but she didn't say on what grounds.

What are my rights? Can she demote me? Can she fire me?

[LConnell]

There are several considerations here.

First, she cannot demote or terminate you just because you are not planning to come back to work IF that others who are not pregnant are permitted to take the benefit without coming to work. If she singles you out because you are pregnant, that is discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, clearly illegal under federal law.

Second, she cannot demote or terminate you if you are taking a leave under FMLA and business conditions are such that the company still retains employees in classifications such as yours. (Meaning that if the company goes out of business, it cannot be forced to provide a job for you when it cannot for others.) To terminate you on the basis of FMLA is illegal under FMLA laws.

However, this is not to say that employers cannot let people go if their actions do not violate anti-discrimination laws. If the company's policies are such that persons not eligible for FMLA are regularly terminated, it is legal to terminate you. That doesn't sound like the case in your situation but you are in the best position to determine if that is correct.