An employee takes protected medical or family leave and learns that someone else will temporarily cover the position. Perhaps coworkers redistribute responsibilities, another employee fills in, or the company reorganizes duties until the employee returns.
Those temporary arrangements may be understandable. The problem arises when the employee returns to find that “temporary” has quietly become permanent.
For employees in Los Angeles and throughout California, a permanent reassignment after protected leave can raise questions under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the California Family Rights Act (CFRA), particularly when the new position entails different responsibilities, opportunities, status, or compensation.
Employers Can Make Changes While an Employee Is Away
Protected leave does not require a workplace to freeze an employee’s position until the employee returns. Employers may need to cover essential responsibilities and make legitimate business decisions during an absence.
Qualifying employees generally have reinstatement rights when returning from FMLA or CFRA leave, including the right to return to the same or a comparable position.
A temporary staffing decision, therefore, should not automatically result in an employee being moved into a worse position because they exercised protected leave rights.
When Is a Different Position Really “Comparable”?
Job titles do not tell the entire story.
An employer might return an employee to a position with the same salary while changing important aspects of the job. The employee may lose supervisory responsibilities, desirable assignments, decision-making authority, schedule advantages, or advancement opportunities.
Other employees may return to find themselves working at a different location or performing substantially different duties.
Whether a post-leave position satisfies applicable reinstatement requirements depends on the circumstances. Employees should look beyond the new role title and compare the actual terms and conditions of employment before and after leave.
The Reason for the Change Matters
Not every permanent change that occurs during protected leave is unlawful.
A company may undergo a genuine restructuring, eliminate positions, or make other decisions unrelated to an employee’s absence. FMLA and CFRA protections do not necessarily give an employee greater rights than they would have had if they had remained at work.
The concern is whether taking leave influenced the decision.
Questions may arise when a supervisor initially describes the reassignment as temporary but refuses to restore the employee’s responsibilities after return. The timing may also warrant scrutiny if the employee’s former duties still exist but are permanently assigned to someone else.
What If the Employer Says the New Role Is Equivalent?
Employees do not have to rely solely on an employer’s characterization of a reassignment.
Documents showing how the positions actually differ can become important. Relevant information may include the employee’s pre-leave job description, compensation records, schedules, organizational charts, emails discussing coverage during leave, and communications concerning the employee’s return.
It may also help to document responsibilities immediately after returning rather than waiting months to reconstruct what changed.
This matters because workplace disputes are often evaluated through multiple pieces of evidence rather than a single email or employment decision.
A “Welcome Back” Should Not Quietly Rewrite Your Job
Returning from protected leave can already involve a difficult transition. An employee should not also have to guess whether a supposedly temporary arrangement has permanently altered their career.
When significant duties, status, compensation, or other employment conditions change following FMLA or CFRA leave, the circumstances deserve closer examination.
Leichter Law Firm represents employees throughout Los Angeles County and California in matters involving protected leave, retaliation, and wrongful termination. Attorney Ari Leichter evaluates what changed during an employee’s absence, why the employer says it changed, and whether the employee’s reinstatement complied with applicable workplace protections.
Employees who returned from protected leave to a job that no longer resembles the one they left can contact Leichter Law Firm for a free, confidential consultation to determine whether the reassignment may have violated their rights.