Hello, I am seeking information or legal advice regarding a family member’s recent layoff while on protected maternity leave in California. She held a Director-level corporate marketing role and had been with the company for 5 years.

During her leave, her position was eliminated due to a “mass” layoff (multiple employees affected in this case) which was reportedly due to a legitimate business reason. Specifically, she is inquiring whether the employer is required to place her in an equivalent position under these circumstances, as there were and still are current positions available within the company which could be argued as equivalent roles.

She is currently able to interview for the open positions against a competitive candidate pool, but is trying to determine if one of these roles should have instead been offered to her preferentially, due to her past employment and availability of the position(s) while on protected maternity leave.

She will be discussing the issue with an attorney in the coming weeks, but I wanted to first check to see if this sub could offer additional input which may be worth discussing during her consultation.

While doing some preliminary Google / chatbot research, I did see protections mentioned under the California Family Rights Act and federal Family and Medical Leave Act which may apply in this case.

Really appreciate any advice or input. Thanks in advance for any help.