I concede point one, I guess I didn't completely understand the guys complaint. As for point two, just because she's more skilled doesn't mean there isn't a pr

I concede point one, I guess I didn't completely understand the guys complaint. As for point two, just because she's more skilled doesn't mean there isn't a productivity loss. It takes a little while to get settled (back) into a job. If the employee on maternity leave has been taking correspondence courses, good for her, but her replacement has spent that time working at the actual job. If the replacement has been doing good work, I would rather keep him/her rather than hire back the original worker, who might be "out of the groove" after a long maternity leave.