Maternity leave, labour standards and employer loopholes

Ok, lame title for a blog entry, I know. I wanted something snappy but at 10:20 pm after dealing with an under-the-weather toddler all day this is as good as I'm going to do; as good as you're going to get.

Not too long ago I was talking to a woman in New Brunswick who told me the story of receiving a termination letter while on Mat Leave. She contacted her former employer, told them they were in violation of Labour Standards. In addition she stipulated what she felt was fair compensation. Her former employer paid up, she went on her way. Her decisiveness impressed me. She wasn't going to be a victim. She stood up for herself. Things worked out. Rewind two years when I still lived in Newfoundland.

A friend & co-worker of mine was in a similar situation. She was an assistant working two part-time jobs for two different employers who shared an office. My friend suffered from hyperemesis gravidarum. She missed a lot of time at work. Laying in a hospital bed hooked up to an IV can do that, you know. Her doctor decided to grant a medical leave from work when she was about four months pregnant. Her employers breathed a sigh of relief. They hired a replacement assistant.

As my friend's Mat Leave neared its end her former employers were in a quandry. They didn't want her back, citing her earlier sickness (due to the pregnancy) as their reason. But you cannot fire someone for taking a medical leave, nor can you fire someone for taking Mat Leave. What to do? They decided to do some "re-structuring." One consultant chose to take on a full time assistant and terminate his need for a part-timer. He hired the assistant who had been chosen to fill the maternity leave vacancy. The other consultant would take back my friend as a part-timer and hope that the part-time hours would force her to look for another position.

Exactly one day before her Maternity Leave ended my friend recieved a letter informing her that her position with Consultant X had been terminated. She was stymied. She visited the Labour Standards office where she was told she had two options: 1. Labour Standards could contact Consultant X and point out that by law he had to give my friend her job back or 2. she could take compensation pay - two weeks worth of part-time salary. The job, of course, right? Right?! Wrong.

Although Labour Standards could win my friend's job back all the power lay with her employer. He could re-hire her on a Monday, fire her on a Tuesday with little reason and that would be that. My friend took the measly compensation package.

We learned a couple of valuable lessons. First, not all Labour Standards rules actually work for employees. Some of them serve the employers first. Second, we learned a hard lesson about the work world. Even if you're great at what you do and have a good rapport with your employer it doesn't take much to fall out of favour, including illness. The cogs must turn and be damned what else is going on. Which brings me to the third part in our lesson - always be prepared! Really do work on building your three month cushion of savings. You might need it when you least expect it.