A local teacher who took maternity leave and was later terminated before securing tenure has won her appeal in court, which ruled that the district “penalized” her for “taking protected leave.”
Former Westwood teacher Pauline Chaloff brought the school district to court over the tenure claim, and she had previously lost her case in front of an arbitrator and a Superior Court judge.
But now, the Massachusetts Appeals Court — the state’s intermediate appellate court — has reversed the ruling in favor of Chaloff.
The court wrote that Westwood Public Schools “penalized the teacher for taking protected leave.”
“We conclude that the teacher earned professional teacher status, and her discharge was improper…” the Appeals Court later added.
“The judgment of the Superior Court confirming the arbitration award is reversed,” the court ruled.
Westwood hired Chaloff through a one-year contract for the 2016-2017 school year, and she joined the teacher’s union.
Then after completing her first year with the district, Chaloff received a second contract for the 2017-2018 school year. During that second year, she submitted a request for maternity leave for 56 days, and Westwood granted the leave.
Then in the spring of her third year, Westwood notified her that because her second year was incomplete, she needed to work an additional year to be eligible for tenure.
The school’s principal “informed her that because she had taken a (maternity) leave of absence during the 2017-18 school year, she would not be receiving PTS (tenure) and that she would need to work another year in non-PTS status before a decision would be made,” the ruling reads.
“Later that same day, the assistant superintendent of schools told the teacher that ‘requiring an extra year in nonprofessional teacher status was regular practice at the Westwood Public Schools for teachers whose employment had a significant interruption,’ ” the ruling adds.
After that meeting, through a fourth contract, Westwood extended her employment for the 2019-2020 school year. Then on May 15, 2020, Westwood notified Chaloff that she would not be hired as a teacher for the next school year. This notification ended the teacher’s employment with Westwood.
But Chaloff asserted that she had taught the requisite three consecutive school years to secure tenure. Dissatisfied with Westwood’s action, she petitioned the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and requested arbitration.
The arbitrator agreed with Westwood, and a Superior Court judge confirmed the award for the district. Then Chaloff brought the case to the Appeals Court.
“By requiring an additional school year and thereby deducting from the length of service credit all days worked during the year in which leave had been taken, Westwood penalized the teacher for taking protected leave,” the court ruled.
The court cited a Massachusetts statute: Protected leave “shall not affect” the employee’s “seniority, length of service credit,” or “any other advantages or rights of employment.”
“Because it disregards the teacher’s actual ‘length of service credit’ that must not be affected by protected leave, Westwood’s formula for calculating PTS violates (state law),” the court ruled. “Therefore, the judgments must be reversed, and the arbitrator’s decision must be vacated… the arbitrator ‘may award back pay, benefits, reinstatement, and any other appropriate non-financial relief or any combination thereof.’ “