Non- Renewal due to maternity leave...

by Jennifer

Jun 15, 2010

Hello all, I am currently an extremely frustrated non- tenured 2nd year teacher who was recently non-renewed. I work for CPS and my principal has notified 4 teachers that they will not be renewed. The reasons that she gave were all vague and can not be backed up, however the ironic thing that we have in common is that we all took maternity leave this year. Out of the four of us probationary teachers 3 were on maternity leave this year. I was wondering if you all think this is something we should persue on the legal scale or if you have heard of anything like this happening before. Any advice would be great. I am also worried about unemployment, would I even be able to file for unemployment? Any input would be appreciated.

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sped On 6/15/10, Jennifer wrote: > I work for CPS and my principal has notified 4 teachers that >they will not be renewed. The reasons that she gave were > all vague and can not be backed up,

They don't have to give a reason at all. Until you're tenured, in Illinois, you are a fixed-term contractual employee. You have a start date, and...See MoreOn 6/15/10, Jennifer wrote: > I work for CPS and my principal has notified 4 teachers that >they will not be renewed. The reasons that she gave were > all vague and can not be backed up,

They don't have to give a reason at all. Until you're tenured, in Illinois, you are a fixed-term contractual employee. You have a start date, and an end date. They may offer you another contract, or they may not. Right or wrong, this is how it is.

> we have in common is that we all took maternity > leave this year. Out of the four of us probationary > teachers 3 were on maternity leave this year. I was > wondering if you all think this is something we should > persue on the legal scale

You're welcome to talk to a lawyer, but, here's the issue. Now, I'm an administrator who has not renewed people before. I've also been not renewed as a teacher, so I've seen it from both sides of the coin. You may, possibly have had a case if you were not renewed with PENDING maternity leave, that is, you were pregnant and got non-renewed before that maternity leave. Even still that's a very steep case to prove, and you'd have to prove it in Cook County courts (the Daley machine runs CPS, and Cook County courts, so they're not likely to take a swipe at essentially a "brother" organization).

However, you and the others were granted maternity leave, took it, and now face a future year with no maternity leave. Yes, you have kids, but having kids is not a protected class, so... you don't have much of a case. Now, you can talk to a lawyer, of course, and I'm sure you'd find one who would take your money and sue, but teachers who sue their employers (especially CPS) don't usually find new employers in education, just so you're aware...

> Any advice would be great. I > am also worried about unemployment, would I even be able to > file for unemployment? Any input would be appreciated.

Apply for unemployment on the Monday of your first day off in the Summer, which should be very soon. Be prepared to provide the documentation that proves you are not rehired. You will be fine, but it will take some paperwork. You are eligible for unemployment even if you're getting paid through the summer. That was money earned previously, so it doesn't count.

Jun 15, 2010

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lynne On 6/15/10, Jennifer wrote: > Hello all, I am currently an extremely frustrated non- > tenured 2nd year teacher who was recently non-renewed. I > work for CPS and my principal has notified 4 teachers that > they will not be renewed. The reasons that she gave were > all vague and can not be backed up, however the ironic > thing tha...See More

Jun 16, 2010

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Jennifer Were there other probationary teachers at your school, who > were renewed? Or were there only four probationary teachers > in all?

Lynne, we have between 10-12 probationary teachers at our school. Which to me speaks very loudly to discrimination.

Jun 16, 2010

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sped On 6/16/10, Jennifer wrote:

> Lynne, we have between 10-12 probationary teachers at our > school. Which to me speaks very loudly to discrimination.

One of the major misunderstandings in American society today is that all discrimination is wrong or illegal. Neither is the case. You'll have to forgive me, but in college, I w...See MoreOn 6/16/10, Jennifer wrote:

> Lynne, we have between 10-12 probationary teachers at our > school. Which to me speaks very loudly to discrimination.

One of the major misunderstandings in American society today is that all discrimination is wrong or illegal. Neither is the case. You'll have to forgive me, but in college, I was pre-law and took many ethics and philosophy classes...

So, federal law has created several protected classes. Those classes that are protected against workplace discrimination are: race, color, national origin, religion, disability, or sex. Now, we discriminate every day. We don't allow sex offenders to work in schools. This is discriminating against a class of individuals..., but it's popular and probably a prudent move. Again, you took maternity leave, and had they fired you and others with pending maternity leave, you MAY have made a case that you were discriminated against based upon a disability (being pregnant). However, you were not renewed after the maternity leave, and so you are probably SOL. After all, now you're just a parent, and being a parent isn't a protected class. Quite frankly, you can discriminate against parents (who are employees, that is).

That said, there's the additional wrinkle that teachers who sue their employers probably won't ever work again as a teacher, especially in a connected states like Illinois. Especially since this case would probably attract some media attention.

There's also the fact that you aren't technically a long-term employee as a non-tenured teacher. You had a fixed-term employment contract, just as a temporary engineer or accountant might have at a business. Now, an accountant who is hired for 10 months to augment a firm's accounting staff for a fixed term probably wouldn't bat an eye if he/she was not hired for a permanent job. He/she might be hurt if they brought in someone else in a permanent job, but there wouldn't be any reasonable talk of suing. You were hired to work from August until June (or near-abouts) and did so. Your contract expired and that was the end of the relationship. That's about it. Teachers don't like to admit it, but we're year-to-year employees until tenure and they can bring you back or not for any or no reason whatsoever. This is the nature of the job. You basically weren't "fired" but simply not rehired for another year, which you were never guaranteed, and they don't have to have a good reason for not rehiring you.

Jun 17, 2010

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Meka This sounds like what happen to my friend...She wasn't hired at one school because she was pregnant and then the school that did hire her did a non-renewal at the end of the school year, and yes she went on maternity leave. Her principal told her she had no control of that.

On 6/17/10, sped wrote: > On 6/16/10, Jennifer wrote: > >...See MoreThis sounds like what happen to my friend...She wasn't hired at one school because she was pregnant and then the school that did hire her did a non-renewal at the end of the school year, and yes she went on maternity leave. Her principal told her she had no control of that.

On 6/17/10, sped wrote: > On 6/16/10, Jennifer wrote: > >> Lynne, we have between 10-12 probationary teachers at our >> school. Which to me speaks very loudly to discrimination. > > One of the major misunderstandings in American society today is that > all discrimination is wrong or illegal. Neither is the case. You'll > have to forgive me, but in college, I was pre-law and took many > ethics and philosophy classes... > > So, federal law has created several protected classes. Those classes > that are protected against workplace discrimination are: race, color, > national origin, religion, disability, or sex. Now, we discriminate > every day. We don't allow sex offenders to work in schools. This is > discriminating against a class of individuals..., but it's popular > and probably a prudent move. Again, you took maternity leave, and > had they fired you and others with pending maternity leave, you MAY > have made a case that you were discriminated against based upon a > disability (being pregnant). However, you were not renewed after the > maternity leave, and so you are probably SOL. After all, now you're > just a parent, and being a parent isn't a protected class. Quite > frankly, you can discriminate against parents (who are employees, > that is). > > That said, there's the additional wrinkle that teachers who sue their > employers probably won't ever work again as a teacher, especially in > a connected states like Illinois. Especially since this case would > probably attract some media attention. > > There's also the fact that you aren't technically a long-term > employee as a non-tenured teacher. You had a fixed-term employment > contract, just as a temporary engineer or accountant might have at a > business. Now, an accountant who is hired for 10 months to augment a > firm's accounting staff for a fixed term probably wouldn't bat an eye > if he/she was not hired for a permanent job. He/she might be hurt if > they brought in someone else in a permanent job, but there wouldn't > be any reasonable talk of suing. You were hired to work from August > until June (or near-abouts) and did so. Your contract expired and > that was the end of the relationship. That's about it. Teachers > don't like to admit it, but we're year-to-year employees until tenure > and they can bring you back or not for any or no reason whatsoever. > This is the nature of the job. You basically weren't "fired" but > simply not rehired for another year, which you were never guaranteed, > and they don't have to have a good reason for not rehiring you.

Jul 9, 2010

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