My company laid off 2 people whilst on maternity leave and being a mostly remote company, my coworkers were in different states.
The one in California sued and got a decent amount from the lawsuit. However the one in Texas didn’t see as bright of an ending.
Maternity leave needs to be protected federally, as right now I think only a handful of states have laws protecting employees on maternity leave.
Unless they signed long leases with “commercial real estate” the company can just you know save a load of money not renting those spaces and just liquidate the office for quick cash.
Or if they own, they can always sell unless “it’s an investment” so we can sell it in the future for more.