Time for Charge Starts when Decision is Made

Originally published by Thomas J. Crane.

A frequent issue in discrimination cases concerns when does the time for filing a complaint start? The answer can be complicated when a teacher, for example, is notified her contract will not be renewed the next school year. Do her six months to file start when she is told she will not be re-hired, or does it start at the end of the school year, when the decision takes effect? In Reyes v. San Felipe Del Rio Consolidated ISD, No. 14-17-00488, 2018 WL 1176487 (Tex.App. San Antonio 3/7/2018), the Court said the time to file started when the school district board told the teacher it had accepted the Superintendent’s proposal to terminate her employment.

Situations involving public school teachers are particularly confusing, because they are entitled to a hearing before the school board. Before a teacher’s termination becomes final, she can ask for a hearing before the school board. Ms. Reyes had such a hearing. She lost, as do most teachers. She was the told by letter dated Jan. 18, 2012 that her employment would be terminated. According to the letter, her employment was terminated effective Jan. 11, 2012. She then filed her charge of discrimination on May 23, 2012. She later filed suit. The district filed a plea to the jurisdiction, which is comparable to a motion to dismiss. It is based on the pleadings. The district argued that she had missed her deadline to file her charge. The district argued that her deadline started not in January, 2012, but in August, 2011 whene was first told the board had accepted the Superintendent’s recommendation that she be terminated.

The court looked at the Texas Education Code which explains the appeal process for public school teachers. The court found that under the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act, Tex. Lab.C. Sec. 21.202, the key event occurred when a decision was made, not when that decision took effect. The focus of the statute, said the court, is on the unlawful decision. So, her six months started in August, 2011, not in January, 2012. And, the court affirmed the dismissal of her case. See the decision here.

Ouch. The plaintiff made a rational decision to look to the result of her hearing before the school board. And, she lost because she relied on the wrong event. She might have the possibility of filing in federal court. But, because she filed her charge some ten months after August, 2011, that possibility would also would be problematic.

Curated by Texas Bar Today. Follow us on Twitter @texasbartoday.

from Texas Bar Today https://ift.tt/2KxS09D
via Abogado Aly Website