3 days after giving birth, my fiance's boss replaces her

My fiance gave birth to our second child on saturday 10/28/06.

Her manager was clearing out her desk today 10/31/06, says he already has someone to fill her spot.

Apparently because she has only worked for the company for 6 months instead of 12 months they are not required to a) hold her position or b) provide another postion with equal status/pay.

They have said they will keep a job for her somewhere within the company but that chances are it will pay a lot less than the job she has been doing for the last 6 months.

Her manager is an asshole and the HR dept at her company says he gets the final say on if she gets to return bck to her former position.

So, now she is talking about going bck to work in a week or 2 instead of 4-6 weeks.

It's bad enough that she isn't going to be paid while on leave, but now the job she has (and enjoys) is going to be taken away, because she had a baby...

I've searched the net and haven't found anything useful (FMLA states she has to be there at least 12months to be protected).

Is there anything that she can do to retain her postion or at least be transfered to another postion that offers equal pay to the one she is losing?

 

And yes, i am pissed!


She is very good at her job and has always been dedicated.

This is complete bullshit!

 

Unfortunatly I don't think there is much you can do. My company is too small to qualify for the FMLA laws (there is only 10 of us) so even though I have been there for years I worry about the same thing when I have my baby. I have a job I like and am good at as well, and work with people I am comfortable with. They've even already hired my "temporary replacement" for when I am gone even though I have over 5 more months before the baby's due. My husband and I have just been penny-pinching just in case something like that happens. We've been considering my staying home with the baby for the first year anyways, and depending on circumstances maybe even longer. We don't want to have a baby in daycare if we can help it, and I don't have family around to help with baby care.

Congrats on the baby boy! I'm sure things will work out for the best for your family. Maybe she can find similar work at a more family-friendly company.

 

I know you said you can't afford for her to stay home, but it can work if you really really stretch it...

I stay home, Brian works. He doesn't make too much, but it's working for us. Have her look into working from home (workathomeagent.com) for a supplement, or possibly babysitting.

Frankly, the costs of daycare and the convenience foods, extra car, gas, insurance, and clothing upkeep really drains that second income anyway.

If she cooks most of your meals, you guys cut back on unneeded expenses, maybe you could make it. Look into the PennyPincher Gazette? It has a lot of great ideas for making it on one income.

 

A friend of mine had a post-doctoral research fellowship at the Smithsonian Institute (as in, the Smithsonian in Washington, DC, as in working in the collections owned by the museum). Same damn thing happened to her. Had a child, lost her fellowship. She was willing to do what she could online (database searches and whatnot) while on maternity leave and be back to work in a reasonable amount of time. But, nope, too bad, so sad.

What does it say about our country when the damn Smithsonian is pulling that?

I'm sorry to hear about your wife. I guess the point of my post is that I empathize, same thing happened to a friend. It's pretty disgusting. And don't spend any money at the Smithsonian Museum! What company did your wife work for? I won't buy their crap either!