Hey all – I received the bad news today out of left field (I was expecting the phone call to be about my return date to work) so I'm still processing all of this in real time. While being laid off sucks, I wonder if there's any illegality of how it went down in my case?
I had agreed with my company for a certain amount of paternity leave prior to taking the leave, with a portion being paid and another unpaid. At the half way mark, they reached out to me asking me to confirm my return date. I told them but also added that if there was any flexibility with that date for me to take more time, I'd be open to and thankful for that. They reached back out about a week later to set up a phone call.
On the phone call, it was business as usual. A five minute conversation total – some small talk initially about fatherhood being new to me followed by the “unfortunate news”. I believe it's totally legal to be laid off during maternity/paternity leave (please correct me if I'm wrong) but it's not legal to be laid off because of it. Thoughts?
This sub was the first place that came to mind to get some advise but I'm potentially open to reaching out to employment law firms if necessary. Thanks all!