At Work: Solutions for Employers & Employees

by: Dana M. Lane, Esq.

Boards of education and private educational entities contend with a wide variety of challenging employment issues on a daily basis. Educational employers are exposed to employer liability through an array of occurrences between their employees, students, vendors, visitors and other community members.. To combat these potential liabilities, educational employers should focus on preventative and predictive measures rather than on reactive measures—a shift in thinking and policy making that can lead to significant cost savings.

Continue reading "Educational Employers: Tackling Crime-Related Liability" »

Posted by Tiffanie Benfer at 10:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Yesterday the Supreme Court unanimously held that students who are sexually harassed in school may bring a claim under Title IX and under Section 1983 of the civil rights laws. Thus, the Supreme Court resolved a split in the circuits (the intermediate appellate courts) in favor of allowing civil rights suits to go forward. This pro-plaintiff decision was a surprise from the current Supreme Court.

In Fitzgerald v. Barnstable School Committee, 2009 WL 128173 (U.S. 2009), the parents of a kindergarten student reported to the school that their daughter was bullied and sexually harassed by a third grader on the school bus. They told the school that the older child made their daughter pull up her dress, pull down her underpants and spread her legs. The parents were not satisfied when the school suggested transferring their daughter to a different bus, feeling that the proposed solution would punish the wrong child.

Continue reading "Unanimous Supreme Court Allows Suit Against School for Its Failure to Properly Respond to Student-on-Student Sexual Harassment" »

Posted by Tiffanie Benfer at 12:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)