Demkowicz v. Endry

411 F. Supp. 1184, 12 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1599, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16180
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Ohio
DecidedSeptember 16, 1975
DocketCiv. A. 73-406
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 411 F. Supp. 1184 (Demkowicz v. Endry) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Demkowicz v. Endry, 411 F. Supp. 1184, 12 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1599, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16180 (S.D. Ohio 1975).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

DUNCAN, District Judge.

This is a civil rights action brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1970) and the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Jurisdiction is asserted pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331(a) and 1343(3) (1970). Plaintiff seeks injunctive relief ordering her reinstatement as a public school teacher in the Reynoldsburg, Ohio, school system, and an award of back pay. The amount in controversy exceeds $10,000, exclusive of interest and costs. The first cause of action was tried to the Court; this opinion includes the Court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law, pursuant to Fed.R. Civ.P. 52(a).

I. FINDINGS OF FACT

A. Sharon Demkowicz

The named plaintiff in this cause is certified by the State of Ohio to teach English *1187 and journalism to high school and junior high school students. She graduated from college in 1968, and taught English in Bellaire, Ohio, for one year before she entered into a one-year contract to teach English and journalism at Reynoldsburg High School during the 1969 — 1970 school year. Her performance was judged to be satisfactory, and her contract was extended for a two-year period. She taught only three academic semesters of this contractual term, tendering her resignation effective January 27, 1972.

In September of 1971, during the first week of the school year, Mrs. Demkowicz approached defendant Joseph Endry, principal of Reynoldsburg High School, and informed him that she was pregnant with her first child. Mr. Endry read to Sharon Demkowicz the maternity leave policy then in effect in the Reynoldsburg Local School District. 1 The policy is set out in the margin; 2 it provided that the employment of a pregnant teacher be terminated ninety days before the expected date of delivery, and that teachers with three or more years experience in the school system could request a leave of absence from their employment. The policy did not provide for a leave of absence for teachers who had less than three years experience in the system, such as Mrs. Demkowicz; it provided that such teachers “may apply for re-employment in the school system.”

Mr. Endry not only informed Mrs. Demkowicz of the school board policy concerning teacher pregnancies, but also informed her of its application to her circumstances. He informed her that since she had less than three years’ tenure in the system, she was in effect required to tender her resignation within the time frame established by the board’s policy, or be terminated. She was not informed that on a few occasions in the past, exceptions had been made for some teachers with less than three years tenure in the system.

By a cordial letter under date of November 19, 1971, Mrs. Demkowicz informed defendant Robert P. Heischman, superintendent of the Reynoldsburg Local School District, of her pregnancy, and of her resignation as of the end of the fall semester. She also expressed her desire “that my contract be considered for renewal for the 1972-73 school year. I have enjoyed teaching here for the past two and one half years, and would like very much to return in September.”

Sharon Demkowicz did not mention the pregnancy leave policy of the school board in her letter of resignation, but she did in fact resign because of the policy and the construction of the policy provided her by Mr. Endry, her principal. Mrs. Demkowicz considered her pregnancy a temporary interruption of her teaching career; I find that but for the policy of the Reynoldsburg Board of Education, Sharon Demkowicz would have taken a leave of absence of seven (7) weeks during the second semester of the 1971-1972 academic year, and returned to work late in that year.

The Court also finds that had plaintiff not been required to submit her resignation in the middle of the school year, her contract would have been renewed in succeeding years. Mr. Endry explained at trial that Mrs. Demkowicz was an “average” teacher, and that such a teacher stands a better chance of being renewed than of *1188 being rehired. “She had resigned, and it didn’t put her in the same category as other people who were being renewed.” Transcript at 115. Asked whether he would have recommended a renewal of plaintiff’s contract at the end of the school year if she had not resigned, Mr. Endry answered, “I don’t know any reason I would not have wanted to renew her contract. I think we would have gone along with another couple of years.” Transcript at 95. See also transcript at 103-104 and 133-134. 3

During the interim between her resignation and the commencement of the 1972-1973 school year, Sharon Demkowicz remained in touch with defendant Cherry, an administrative assistant superintendent to the Reynoldsburg School Board, and with the board office. She contacted Mr. Cherry or the board office when she learned of openings in her field at the high school. She did not apply to other schools during that period, because she believed it to be likely that she would be offered another contract. She was not. During subsequent years she renewed her applications with the Reynoldsburg system, and submitted applications to other school systems in the Columbus, Ohio, metropolitan area as well. She also registered with an employment agency in Columbus. She was unable to secure employment in the teaching field; she worked for a brief period for the employment agency with which she was registered, but for the most part she has remained unemployed since she resigned in January of 1972.

B. The Defendant Individuals

The defendants in this cause include the president and the other members of the Reynoldsburg Board of Education, the administrative assistant to that body, the superintendent of the Reynoldsburg Local School District, and the principal of Reynoldsburg High School. Each of these men played a role in plaintiff’s resignation, either by permitting the challenged maternity policy to remain in effect during the 1971 — 1972 school year, or by enforcing the policy in Sharon Demkowicz’s case.

The defendants assert that they acted at all times pertinent to this case in good faith and in the reasonable belief that the challenged maternity leave policy was constitutional. The following chronology of events is relevant to this assertion:

1. May 12, 1971. The United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio held that mandatory maternity leave policies were constitutional. LaFleur v. Cleveland Board of Education, 326 F.Supp. 1208.
2. May 17, 1971. The United States District Court for the Eastern Division of Virginia held that such policies were unconstitutional. Cohen v. Chester

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411 F. Supp. 1184, 12 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1599, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16180, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/demkowicz-v-endry-ohsd-1975.