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In the case of Langello v. West Haven Board of Education, the evidence of a teacher’s poor attendance, inability to properly instruct her students, failure to make lesson plans, errors in judgment, and troubling actions on several occasions supported the hearing officer's determination that the school board had ample justification to terminate her employment contract for other due and sufficient cause pursuant to The Teacher Tenure Act. The teacher’s termination did not violate the Fair Employment Practice Act, as she was offered reasonable accommodation and was only terminated after she was unable to perform the job with the accommodation.

The plaintiff, a tenured teacher in the West Haven public school district, appealed to the trial court from the decision of the defendant, the West Haven board of education, terminating her employment contract. The teacher had suffered from numerous health conditions that caused her to be hospitalized multiple times over the course of her employment and to take several leaves of absence from her employment. After the teacher underwent a fitness for duty examination that revealed that she was not fit for duty because she appeared confused and overwhelmed, the board provided a full-time paraprofessional to assist the teacher. Following numerous complaints from parents regarding the teacher and incidents of her conduct that caused concern, a hearing officer recommended that her employment contract be terminated, and the board adopted that recommendation.

The teacher claimed that the trial court failed to give sufficient weight to the Fair Employment Practices Act when it affirmed the board's decision to terminate her employment contract on the grounds of "disability" and "other due and sufficient" cause as set forth in the Teacher Tenure Act. In light of the public policy that prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability, this court concluded that any teacher who is terminated pursuant to the Teacher Tenure Act enjoys the protections of the Fair Employment Practices Act, and, thus, a teacher who is discharged for any of the reasons enumerated by law must be afforded the protections of the act. If a board of education seeks to terminate a teacher's employment pursuant to the Teacher Tenure Act for reason of a disability, it must follow the mandates of the Fair Employment Practices Act and show that the teacher was unable to perform the essential functions of her profession with or without reasonable accommodation.

After due hearing, the court determined that the board's decision to discharge the teacher pursuant to the Teacher Tenure Act complied with the mandates of the Fair Employment Practices Act. The board provided the teacher with a reasonable accommodation of a full-time paraprofessional assistant and sought to terminate her employment only after it determined that she was unable to perform the essential functions of her job with the board’s accommodations. The hearing officer, who found that the teacher failed to perform some of her most basic duties as an instrumental music teacher, considered the totality of the evidence and the specific facts of this case and concluded that the evidence of the plaintiff's mental disability established cause for her termination of employment. The teacher’s poor attendance, inability to provide proper instruction to her students, failure to make lesson plans, errors in judgment and troubling actions on several specific occasions supported the hearing officer's determination that the board had ample justification to terminate the teacher’s employment contract for other due and sufficient cause under Connecticut’s Teacher Tenure Act.

If you feel you would like to explore your employment law options, contact the experienced employment law attorneys today at 203-221-3100, or by email at JMaya@mayalaw.com. We have the experience and knowledge you need at this critical juncture. We serve clients in both New York and Connecticut including New Canaan, Bridgeport, White Plains, and Darien.

Source: Langello v. West Haven Bd. of Educ., 142 Conn. App. 248, 65 A.3d 1, 2013 Conn. App. LEXIS 222, 2013 WL 1731108 (Conn. App. Ct. 2013)