Dispute on Maternity Leave Extension : Justice Dept. Orders Mother Back on Job

A senior Justice Department attorney who is seeking to extend her maternity leave without pay after a difficult pregnancy said today she expects to be fired unless she returns to work by the end of the month.

“I’m not going to go back against my doctor’s advice and my own best judgment,” Joan Bernott, 42, said on the CBS “This Morning” program. “I think I’ll be AWOL, which will subject me to disciplinary proceedings and discharge.”

Assistant Atty. Gen. John Bolton has ordered Bernott to return to work May 31 or submit additional medical information from her doctor, answering 27 questions and giving a reason why her leave should be extended to mid-August.

Bolton has said the civil division faces an enormous workload and that it is vital that its 25 senior attorney positions--one of which is held by Bernott--be staffed fully.

Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D-Colo.), who wrote Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III questioning Bolton’s actions, said the department has no right to accuse Bernott of shirking her duties.

“If you look at her tenure record, there’s absolutely no reason to accuse her of malingering, which is what they’re accusing her of,” the congresswoman said on the CBS program.

“She’s sitting there with all sorts of doctors’ records saying, ‘Look, I’m a 42-year-old woman and having this baby turned out not to be a nine-month cruise,’ ” Schroeder said. “ . . . It sounds to me that they’re just saying ‘Motherhood isn’t in this year, Joan, and at the Justice Department we’re not for that. Why don’t you leave?’ ”