FMLA once laid off

In most cases, once your employment relationship ends, so do your rights as an employee. Thus, if your layoff results in the termination of your employment before your FMLA leave began, you will not have any right to take an FMLA leave or to return to work at the end of that leave.

Short term disability is a creature of contract and not federal law. Therefore, you need to look at your employer's short term disability plan, or a summary of that plan, to see if it is available to employees who have been laid off. You have the right to see a copy of the summary plan description and, if that does not answer your question, the plan as well.

If the reason for your layoff is the fact that you are pregnant, then the layoff itself is unlawful. In that case, you could file a gender/pregnancy discrimination claim and ask the court to order your employer to pay lost wages and reinstate you.

posted by Neil Klingshirn  |  Jul 23, 2009 10:05 AM [EST]