125 results for 'cat:"Education" AND cat:"Employment"'.
J. Harris finds the lower court improperly granted summary judgment to the teacher. A longtime teacher of English and drama at a Catholic high school sued for sex discrimination under Title VII after the school fired him for his plans to marry his same-sex partner. The complaint falls squarely into the ministerial exception, a legal doctrine barring the application of anti-discrimination laws to religious institutions' employment relationships with its ministers. The teacher played a vital role as a messenger of the school's faith making him a minister for the point of the exception. Reversed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Harris , Filed On: May 8, 2024, Case #: 22-1440, Categories: education, employment Discrimination
J. Chun denies the university president's motion to dismiss the retaliation claim in the school faculty member's complaint alleging that the university president wrongfully fired the faculty member for putting a statement in his class syllabus, emails and outside his faculty office door about the Coast Salish tribe's claim to land that read, "I acknowledge that by the labor theory of property the Coast Salish people can claim historical ownership of almost none of the land currently occupied by the University of Washington." The school faculty member plausible states a First Amendment retaliation claim, because the school faculty member's speech concerned a matter of public concern, and the court cannot employ the applicable Pickering balancing test at this stage.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Chun, Filed On: May 8, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv964, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, education, employment Discrimination
J. Wood finds the county court improperly dismissed the school football coach's Teacher Fair Dismissal Act claims. The court dismissed the claims with prejudice, finding they were precluded by the coach's failure to “administratively appeal” the district's decision to terminate. A cited case involved a teacher’s contract being changed for a subsequent school year. In this case, the district terminated the contract midway through the year, resulting in financial consequences during that same year. The court erroneously found the coach's signing of the subsequent year's contract precluded his recovery for the midyear termination under the act. Reversed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Wood , Filed On: May 8, 2024, Case #: CV-22-592, Categories: education, employment, Contract
J. Chun declines to dismiss the school faculty member's retaliation claim in his complaint alleging that the university president wrongfully fired the faculty member for putting a statement in his class syllabus, emails and outside his faculty office door about the Coast Salish tribe's claim to land that read, "I acknowledge that by the labor theory of property the Coast Salish people can claim historical ownership of almost none of the land currently occupied by the University of Washington." The school faculty member plausibly alleges a First Amendment retaliation claim as his speech “related to scholarship or teaching." While the university and its president cite the "Johnson v. Poway Unified School District" decision that allows discipline of speech on school grounds, that case's analysis focuses on secondary school education, not college education.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Chun, Filed On: May 3, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv964, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: education, employment Retaliation, First Amendment
J. Jordan finds the District Court properly held that a school board president who was replaced without notice a week after being elected had a clearly established property right in his employment and had been deprived of that right without due process. “It is clearly established that employees with a statutory right in their employment cannot be fired without notice and a hearing.” Affirmed.
Court: 3rd Circuit, Judge: Jordan, Filed On: May 1, 2024, Case #: 22-1866, Categories: education, employment, Due Process
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J. Parker grants the school system's summary judgment motion in this lawsuit brought by a teacher asserting claims under Title VII and the Tennessee Human Rights Act for discrimination, sexual harassment and retaliation. Certain discrete claims of harassment are time-barred, and her hostile work environment claim is not supported by the allegations.
Court: USDC Western District of Tennessee , Judge: Parker, Filed On: April 29, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv2346, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, education, employment Discrimination
J. Novak denies the university's motion to dismiss claims of gender discrimination. An accomplished Black female news director turned communications professor properly presented facts that her Black male supervisor gave her unfavorable assignments, tried to take her role as internship director away, suggested she needed to teach more courses than anyone else in the department and directed her to teach specific courses without her input, while her male and White female counterparts exercised flexibility in choosing courses to instruct.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Virginia, Judge: Novak, Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: 3:23cv777, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: education, employment Discrimination, employment Retaliation
J. Drell orders a school's executive director to turn over complete and unredacted records of any phone calls and text messages he exchanged with three subordinate employees, during two days of depositions for an English instructor’s Title VII sexual harassment and retaliation suit. The school destroyed evidence to conceal it from the litigant-teacher and, therefore, the teacher is granted an “adverse inference” as a sanction. A jury may infer that deleted texts would have shown the executive director instructed the three workers how they were to testify in their depositions and that the testimony in their own depositions reflects the instructions of their boss.
Court: USDC Western District of Louisiana , Judge: Drell, Filed On: April 17, 2024, Case #: 1:21cv4419, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: education, employment Discrimination, employment Retaliation
J. Jackson-Akiwumi finds that the lower court properly found for the college, ruling it did not discriminate against the employee when it fired her after nearly 20 decades of employment. The employee fails to show a causal link between her filing of a petition with the Illinois Department of Human Rights and her termination, as the record supports the college's claim that it fired her after becoming increasingly dissatisfied with her performance. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Jackson-Akiwumi, Filed On: April 17, 2024, Case #: 22-2516, Categories: education, employment Discrimination
[Consolidated.] J. Wooton affirms in part, and reverses in part the lower court's orders granting the university's motion for summary judgment in the two former campus police officers' suits alleging retaliatory discharge when the university terminated their employment after they both complained of a special arrangement between it and a county magistrate to automatically dispose of criminal charges involving student athletes by sentencing them to community service, and one for filing a complaint with the West Virginia Ethics Commission against a fellow officer for his personal use of campus police vehicle. The judge erred in finding the former officers failed to establish a prima facie case of retaliation since their complaints of wrongdoing, while not in close proximity to the time of their termination, were done in "good faith" and to the "appropriate authority" and could weigh in favor to a jury that the university's stated reasons for their termination were pretextual.
Court: West Virginia Supreme Court Of Appeals, Judge: Wooton, Filed On: April 11, 2024, Case #: 22-609, Categories: education, employment, Whistleblowers
J. Hanen finds that the claims of professor who was denied a promotion after speaking out against discriminatory behavior toward women university employees can proceed to a jury trial based only on professor’s retaliation and discrimination claims. The professor cited emails in which she repeatedly pointed out gender-based discrimination to her supervisors, along with formal complaints she submitted to the university, which provide sufficient context for retaliation.
Court: USDC Southern District of Texas, Judge: Hanen, Filed On: April 11, 2024, Case #: 4:15cv2824, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: education, employment Discrimination, employment Retaliation
Per curiam, the court of appeals finds the administrative employees are not entitled to a writ of mandamus to invalidate the policy that led to their terminations. Although the school board's policy did not contain a "detailed list of criteria," it met statutory requirements and was justified in light of budgetary constraints faced by the district.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: April 11, 2024, Case #: 2024-Ohio-1542, Categories: Civil Procedure, education, employment
[Consolidated.] Per curiam, the circuit finds on remand that the district court improperly dismissed contract claims brought by high-ranking employees who had been fired from their jobs with a big city school district because the women's internship certificates had been discounted as meeting professional requirements for leadership roles under their employment agreements, even when state education overseers opined that the certificates rendered them qualified, raising questions of fact better left to trial.
Court: 2nd Circuit, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: April 4, 2024, Case #: 22-2810, Categories: education, employment, Contract
J. Urbanski denies the university's motion to dismiss due process claims. A Ph.D candidate claimed his male supervisor routinely discriminated against him because the supervisor preferred women he could attempt to seduce. The supervisor received a grant from research the candidate did in his lab but instead of giving the research stipend to the male candidate he gave it to a female candidate he was supposedly in a romantic relationship with. The male candidate claims that after he reported the supervisor's actions the supervisor began a retaliation campaign consisting of harsh work assignments and creating a hostile lab environment. During this time the male candidate was accused of sexual assault by a classmate who the male candidate claims did not seek to pursue the candidate's dismissal from the university until the supervisor influenced her to do so. The process moved quickly and the university, supposedly under the supervisor's tutelage, refused to give the male candidate an extension for collecting evidence to defend himself from the accusation.
Court: USDC Western District of Virginia, Judge: Urbanski, Filed On: April 2, 2024, Case #: 7:21cv378, Categories: education, Due Process, employment Retaliation
J. Greer finds that an assistant professor was properly denied judicial review after she was denied tenure because the record indicates her courses lacked critical thinking and did not prepare students for upper level classes. Affirmed.
Court: Iowa Court Of Appeals, Judge: Greer, Filed On: March 27, 2024, Case #: 23-1151, Categories: education, employment
J. Kleeh grants in part the university's and several professors' motions to dismiss a fellow Department of Public Administration professor's religious and national origin discrimination suit. In addition to 42 U.S.C.§ 1981 not affording protection against discrimination based on national origin or religion, the court grants the professors' motion in both their individual and official capacities in counts five and six of the complaint. On the similar claims in counts one and two under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the court grants the university's motion to strike references to the professor's 2017 denial of tenure and allegations predating Nov. 20, 2020, but denies it to strike his allegation the Department Faculty Evaluation Committee denied his promotion to full professor in 2023.
Court: USDC Northern District of West Virginia, Judge: Kleeh, Filed On: March 26, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv153, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, education, employment Discrimination
J. Ellison finds for a school district on a former teacher's employment discrimination action. She fails to make out a prima facie case of discrimination, nor has she shown the district's legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for non-renewal was pretextual.
Court: USDC Southern District of Texas, Judge: Ellison, Filed On: March 22, 2024, Case #: 4:23cv145, NOS: Amer w/Disabilities-Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: education, employment Discrimination, employment Retaliation
J. Cassel finds the district court improperly overruled the school district's motion for summary judgment. The district claims it has immunity from the wrongful discharge suit filed by the former employee who was terminated after it was discovered she had provided incorrect ID information in order to cover up a previous arrest. The district's decision to terminate her employment falls within the discretionary function exemption of the Political Subdivisions Tort Claims Act. Reversed.
Court: Nebraska Supreme Court, Judge: Cassel , Filed On: March 22, 2024, Case #: S-23-490, Categories: education, employment, Tort
J. Papillion grants a university's motion to dismiss the age discrimination complaint against the president-chancellor and other college officials by an 82-year-old white, formerly tenured associate professor. The professor alleges the reasons for his firing - student complaints of allegedly racist and sexually inappropriate comments in class - are a pretext for age bias. Supervisors cannot be held individually liable under federal age discrimination law, and he has not exhausted his administrative remedies for his claims against the school.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Papillion, Filed On: March 21, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv1423, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Procedure, education, employment Discrimination
J. Seybert trims a 60-year-old disabled veteran’s employment discrimination complaint against a Long Island-based law school and allows a single claim for age discrimination to proceed to discovery. The court finds comments made by one of the interviewers, who said the university wanted someone to remain in the position for several years, could suggest that age was a consideration not to hire the applicant and instead hire a younger, less qualified employee.
Court: USDC Eastern District of New York, Judge: Seybert, Filed On: March 20, 2024, Case #: 2:21cv1345, NOS: Amer w/Disabilities-Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: education, employment, employment Discrimination
J. D’Agostino dismisses with prejudice an employment discrimination and retaliation complaint brought against Hamilton College by a university professor, who says he was targeted for being a Black immigrant from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Many of his allegations involve actions that occurred prior to 2018, including the university’s decision not to appoint him to chair of the French and Franco Studies Department in 2012, which the court finds are untimely.
Court: USDC Northern District of New York, Judge: D’Agostino, Filed On: March 20, 2024, Case #: 6:22cv1395, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: education, employment Discrimination, employment Retaliation
J. Dever grants North Carolina State University’s motion to dismiss allegations of disability discrimination brought by a Ph.D. candidate who claims the university did not accommodate his ADHD, depression and anxiety diagnoses. He requested multiple leaves of absence during his program to attend mental health appointments, which the university afforded him. An advisor gave a research assistantship to a different student because the candidate was “a liability.” However, the candidate’s hostile work environment and failure to accommodate claims are not sufficient or time-barred under the ADA.
Court: USDC Eastern District of North Carolina, Judge: Dever, Filed On: March 19, 2024, Case #: 5:23cv331, NOS: Amer w/Disabilities-Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, education, employment Discrimination
J. Marbley denies the university's motion for summary judgment, ruling the black professor's EEOC complaints and internal communications about false allegations of sexual assault were protected activity under Title VII and establish a causal link to his termination that allows his retaliation claim to proceed. The university claims it fired the professor after the results of its investigation validated the sexual assault claims, but because the Faculty Senate Hearing Committee disputed this result on two occasions and found the investigation "troubling," the professor has made a prima facie showing of pretext.
Court: USDC Southern District of Ohio, Judge: Marbley, Filed On: March 18, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv2028, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: education, Evidence, employment Retaliation