Maternity Leave Georgia

[cmbrees]

I was placed on bed rest in June and had my daughter in September. Before I left work I was working 32-35 hrs a week as a Pre-School teacher. Now that I want to return they are not offering me back my position they said I can work 6-9am for a total of 15 hrs a week. Is this legal? Being I had approved medical leave do they legally have to offer back my position or hours? FLMA did not come into play being they don't have enough employee's, I just really need to know my rights cause I went from making $500 every two weeks to just over $100 due to daycare cost's. Please advise on how I should handle this.
Thanks!

[ESteele]

Who is your employer? A public school system or an individual private school? If a private school, does it employ 50 or more employees? Did the pre-school operate in the summer? How many total weeks were you off from work from June to September? The answer to these questions could factor into whether you could potentially have any protection under the FMLA.

If there are, in fact, not enough employees for FMLA coverage or FMLA does not apply for some other reason, you would not appear to have any legal recourse (absent, of course, the existence of an unidentified union contract or other controlling contractual or statutory provision). Without researching the issue, I am 99% certain Georgia does not have a state law analogue more extensive than FMLA.

[cmbrees]

I work for a private daycare system that has less than 50 employees. I was on medical leave for 14 weeks and maternity leave for 6. I guess if I have no way to get my hours I need I'm going to apply for underemployment to make up my loss of income cause I can't survive on $200 a month when I used to make $1,000.

[Marketeer]

The issue is that, even if you qualified for job-protected leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (and it appears that you don't because of the size of the employer), the maximum length of time that the employer is required to hold your job is 12 weeks. You were out for 20 weeks.

[cmbrees]

So there is nothing that I can do? I feel so helpless

[Betty3]

You can apply for unemployment ins. & look for other
employment with more hours.

[cbg]

Unless you have a legally binding and enforceable contract (union or otherwise) that specifically says otherwise, once your FMLA expires your employer has no legal obligation to bring you back to work at all, let alone into the same position. I can say for certain that GA has no state mandated leave that exceeds FMLA.

[cmbrees]

How can you apply for unemployement insurance if they are offering me some hours?

[DAW]

This is a general answer and not one specific to your state. (Not my state).

A reduction in hours/wages by the employer, something not the employee's fault, might qualify for UI benefits in most states. Different states have different rules but many states do indeed follow this rule. HOWEVER, your state is not my state, and there is no one working for your state who cares about my opinion or the opinion of anyone else on the Internet. At the end of the this is strictly GA-UI's decision. Basically, file the UI claim. It works or it does not. No sure things here.

[Betty3]

Agree, file the claim. You might get partial UI benefits due to a reduction
in hrs./income Good luck.