FMLA And Lay Off

[maykhala]

I am currently on FMLA (for a birth of a child) and have received news my entire department has been layed off. It appears that the company has decided to centralize the departments and if people are interested in a position they can submit a resume for a position in another state as they will be the only one with our department. What happens to me when I "return" from FMLA? Do I have anything that will protect me?

[cbg]

FMLA does not protect you from a layoff that would have happened regardless of your leave. You do not get to keep your job when all the rest of your department loses theirs because by a coincidence of timing, you happened to be on FMLA at the time.

You are free to apply for other positions the same as all the rest of the employees. They cannot take your FMLA into consideration in making the hiring/transfer decisions; neither does your FMLA give you any special consideration. They are required to completely leave your FMLA off the table when making decisions who to transfer out of state.

[maykhala]

Now can they put same job duties for the new open job position as the one's we were all doing?

[cbg]

In a new location? Certainly they can.

[maykhala]

No, they have actually posted three new positions where we are currently working w/a new title Operations Manager instead of director of Student Services/Operations and all of the opertional duties are the same it's just half the job and half the salary.

[Betty3]

There's nothing illegal in doing that.