personnel issues & law

8/14/2019 PERSONNEL ISSUES & LAW

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Personnel Issues

William Allan Kritsonis, PhD



Topics to be Discussed:

Reassignment

Compensation Disputes

Teacher Appraisal Employee Benefits

Wage and Hour Requirements

Workers’ Compensation and UnemploymentCompensation

Grievances and Employee Organizations



Reassignment

Reassignments lead to litigations Assignment and reassignment can be

handled by the superintendent

The Texas Education Agency will hear complaints if the employee suffers financially

Commissioner’s jurisdiction limited to “theschool laws of this state” or “provision of a

written employment contract between theschool district and a school district employeeif a violation causes or would cause monetaryharm to the employee”



What’s The Law?

Case I: Finch v. Fort Bend I.S.D. (2003)

A principal was reassigned to themaintenance department. She was told thatshe would be a facilitator for staff development of the nonprofessional staff.The superintendent gave her a memo stating

the reason for reassignment and told her thatshe could file a grievance. The principal fileda grievance and a lawsuit.

Who is right?



COMPENSATION DISPUTES

State Pay Scale

“Local Supplement”

San Elizario I.S.D. set salaries on July 10.Teachers were locked into their contract asof July 1. The new salary was lower. Is this

allowable? Overpayment- If a district makes an error

and overpays a teacher, can the district getthe money back?



TEACHER APPRAISAL

Before 1981’s Term Contract Nonrenewal Act(TCNA), there was not a state law requiring teacher evaluation.

TCNA required teachers under term contract to beevaluated in writing at least once a year. All other decisions about evaluation, including the

instrument used to evaluate were left up to the local

district.



TEACHER APPRAISAL

1984: House Bill 72 imposed the TexasTeacher Appraisal System (TTAS)

Bill was an effort to adopt a uniformsystem of evaluating teachers inTexas.

Implemented the career ladder Financial incentives to keep good

teacher teaching



Texas Teacher Appraisal

System (TTAS)

Was used to differentiate the regular teacher from the star teacher

Administrators thought it was too easy for teachers, didn’t reflect teachers’ capabilities

Many teachers did not approve of career

ladders (unfair cash incentives) 1993 legislature got rid of this system

1995 legislature made extra changes



PDAS (Professional Development

and Appraisal System)

Current system Not for all professional employees; for

classroom teachers

District must use or create their own If district makes their own, it must

develop it through district and campus

site-based decision-making committees Local system must reflect discipline

management and student performance

Local board must accept or reject planen toto cannot modif lan



PDAS Continued Includes eight domains based on indicators in the

Academic Excellence Indicator System Single appraisal by single appraiser Annual, unless district decides to have less Four ratings: Exceeds expectations, Proficient,

Below expectations, Unsatisfactory If a teacher receives most recent appraisal of

“proficient” with no areas of deficiency, they canbe appraised less (as long as appraised every fiveyears)

One failure may impact several domains Teacher can file a written rebuttal to the appraisal Teachers must only be assessed on classroom

performance, not extracurricular activities



PDAS

Teachers may be identified as needingassistance if they are evaluated asunsatisfactory in two or more domains.

Supervisor and teacher must develop anintervention plan

Teacher can be nonrenewed without the

above actions taking place. Kinnaird v. Morgan I.S.D. (1999) Teacher was

nonrenewed without an intervention plan. Thecommissioner approved this.



PDAS Documentation

Timely documentation by administrators

Incidents that affect teacher’s rating shouldbe verified, documented , and shared with theteacher promptly

Koehler v. LaGrange I.S.D.- supervisor failedto document and share two incidents that had

adversely affected the appraisal-commissioner invalidated teacher’s appraisal

Incidents should be documented and sharedwith the teacher within ten working days of

the appraiser’s knowledge of the incident



Employment Benefits

Planning and Preparation Period- State law:(each teacher)at least 450 minutes within eachtwo week period for preparation, planning,conferences, grading. Each period must be at

least 45 minutes long. The teacher may not berequired to participated in any other activity (i.e.inservices- Strater v. Houston I.S.D., 1986)

Duty-Free Lunch-30 minute period free from

duties unless dire situations (shortage of staff,extreme economic conditions, unavoidable and/or unforseen circumstances). A teacher may not berequired to supervise students during the duty-

free lunch more than one time per week.



Personal Leave

Old plan done away with in 1995 State allows 5 days personal leave a year

No limit on accumulation Moves with employee Can be used for any reason

Old plan-you could only use sick days whenyou were actually sick. Personal leave isdifferent.

Sick leave is still under the old plan



Castleberry ISD

No more than two personal leave daysconsecutively

No personal leave if other employee in thesame category is on leave

No personal leave on the day before a

holiday This was approved by the court of appeals. It

didn’t limit days, just limited timing.



Personal Leave

Can be rewarded-$1,000 stipend with certainconditions (Brady I.S.D.)

Brady I.S.D. conditions: No more than five days personal/sick leave in a

school year

Teacher missed eight days and filed a grievance

District won



Health Insurance/Assault Leave

Health insurance: employees can takenecessary days to recuperate from all injuries.Employees can have paid leave up to twoyears. Leave may not be deducted from sickleave.

Employee placed on assault leave immediatelyupon request. District will investigate and maychange the assault leave charge. It will affectpersonal days, then employee pay.

T h R ti t h t h t ti i t



Teacher Retirement: each teacher must participate.School districts can establish annuity programs, andvarious insurance programs out of local funds.

Temporary Disability Leave: Teacher cannot beterminated. Pregnancy listed specifically. Can onlybe taken during the period the doctor specifies. Thisis unpaid leave. Upon returning to work, theemployee should have a job. This employee must be

placed on their campus, unless another principalvoluntarily accepts them.

* Nelson v. Weatherwax: Employee went on temporarydisability leave on same day that she received notice

of intent to terminate. On her leave, the board wenton with proceedings. The termination date was theday her leave ended. The court of appealsconcluded that this process did not violate the

Education Code.



Worker’s Unemployment

Compensation Compensation Statue prohibits an

employer from retaliatingagainst an employeewho has filed

No legal obligation tohold jobs or create newones for employees. Theonly exception is

disabled employeesunder the Americanswith Disabilities Act(ADA)

Helps those who areunemployed through nofault of their own

Misconduct or quittingvoluntarily does notmerit unemploymentpay



Grievances

Covered under the TexasConstitution since 1845

1984- Attorney General JimMattox broadened

“conditions of work” ingrievances Malone v. Houston I.S.D.-

District refused grievance of reassignment. This was ruled

as a serious error. Grievances can occur over

virtually anything. They mustbe filed in a timely fashion.

Hearing involves”Stop, look,

listen” and “consider”



The Role of Employee

Organizations

Weaker than most around the country Those that are stronger have had strong

labor unions for a long period of time In Texas:

“Right to work” regardless of membership or non-membership in professional organizations

Ban on collective bargaining in the public sector Prohibits right to strike or organized work

stoppages You can only file grievances through

organizations that do not claim the right to strike



Resources

The Educator’s Guide to Texas School Law, 6th Edition by Kemerre, Walsh & Maniotis, 2005,University of Texas Press, Austin.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Educators-Guide-to-Texas-School-Law/Jim-Walsh/e/9780292706637/?itm=1

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