The employer could get in serious trouble, according to one recent court decision.

After an employee left for FMLA leave, the company reorganized her department to handle the workload while she was out. It turned out that the remaining employees were perfectly capable of getting everything done.

So the company decided to eliminate the woman’s position and not bring her back to work.

Wrong move, said the judge after the employee took the company to court. Companies can only deny reinstatement when employees would’ve lost their jobs even if they didn’t take leave — for example, due to a reduction-in-force that was being planned anyway.

In this case, the court found that her termination was directly related to her use of FMLA — in other words, if she never took leave, she never would’ve been let go.

Cite: Stephens v. Neighborhood Services Org.