- Jurisdiction
- North Carolina
My wife is 4-5 weeks pregnant and just accepted a new job. This will be her first pregnancy. She did not tell them she is pregnant and doesn't plan on telling people till 13 weeks. Her start date is the start of her 13th week. She says this company doesn't have more than 50 employees and thought that companies are exempt from FMLA if you have less that 50 employees. Looking at their benefits, they do have "full maternity leave", but not sure what that entails. My wife is just a little nervous not telling them and is worried how they will react when she tells them the news because she feels like she is hiding it from them. She did not know she was pregnant when she was interviewing with them. She wants to know from a legal standpoint what the laws were in North Carolina related to pregnancy and the workplace. Can she get fired after coming back from maternity leave? She had already made it very clear to them that she is in this job for the long road. She says that NC is an 'at will' state meaning you can fire someone for any reason. I do not know the laws that well, so just going off what her concerns are.