[Don Plumley]

Sorry to hear about the injury.

Brando hit the nail on the head, protection (as far as labor board is concerned) is provided through FMLA, so unless she filed FMLA paperwork, all bets are off. Further, with just 12 employees that might be below a requirement threshold anyway.

You asked about the concept of fairness. What's the concept of "normal" hours for any hourly employee at this firm? If the original offer of employment was for 40 hours a week, then you would seek clarification. If the original offer of employment is "we'll use you as much as we can", then the employer is doing what they can. Now if the vet is a nice person and they have the need, clearly they should bring hours back to "normal" (full time) as soon as they can. But if they hired a replacement while your wife was off, and this person was very capable, then by splitting the position between two they are being fairly generous, albeit at the downside to your wife.

Finally, if the replacement is at a lower wage rate, I don't think you would have a discrimination (If your wife is in a protected age class) claim, but worth noting.