that is soooo unfair!! when do you plan on going back to work? If it's within like 12 weeks of leaving, I would just forget about the pay cut and start to look for another job asap. but since they want to be sneaky and crappy and do that to you, I wouldn't give them my notice when I got a new job. what jerks! I'm preggers too but not working. but I was working before I had my first - up to my due date. It was a large, well-known company and they wouldn't budge on flexing my schedule. So I turned in my laptop and crackberry and left. Would you believe they sent me a letter 6 weeks later stating that since they hadn't heard from me that they considered it job abandonment?!?!?!? WTH! What part of me giving all company items back, clearning out my desk, and saying "goodbye" to them did they not understand? And I understood quite clearly when they said that they couldn't accommodate my schedule. So ... huh? Whatever. Corporations are heartless.

I'm from Canada, but I recently got laid off work. I had to go on EI (Employment Insurance - governmnet) which is a tax we pay every paycheck. This is the same insurance Canadian women go on when we have mat. leave. Some employers do top up the EI b/c EI has a maximum amount (therefore a person making $100,000 per year gets the same benefits as someone making $40,000/year). EI is determined on your last 3 months earnings.

Does your employer pay your mat. leave or the government? I just don't understand how an employer would be able to do that, b/c then wouldn't ALL American employers reduce the pay of women going on mat. leave right before they leave so they wouldn't have to pay out? AND, do they have a legal obligation of holding your job?

I guess what I'm asking is how does mat. leave work in your area?

Have other positions there been downsized or are they having a mass-layoff? I would really look into that...legally, they can't just "down-size" your position based on the fact that you are pregnant/taking a maternity leave. AND for them to say they want to take some work off your plate is :jawdrop: ....I'm sure you'll be just as capable if not more when you come back.

Being pregnant is considered, legally, a protected class. I'm not a lawyer (nor do I play one on TV ) but I did work in a law firm when I was pregnant with my daughter, and one of our clients sued her employer for a similar case....they outwardly told her it was because she was pregnant (which was really dumb on their part) but good for the client.

Good luck with everything...especially with your new baby!! Keep us updated!!!

WTF??