Pregnant teacher sues school for discrimination after the school kicked her out because of her pregnancy. The former Montana Catholic school teacher was unmarried and pregnant at the time she was dismissed. Now, the pregnant teacher sues school district for the alleged discrimination done against her.
According to the Montana Standard, the former teacher filed a lawsuit in Butte federal court on Thursday against Butte Central Catholic Schools.
Shaela Evenson, who gave birth to a boy on Mar. 7, filed the lawsuit. The Daily Mail reports that the lawsuit claimed the firing to have violated federal and state laws prohibiting discrimination based on pregnancy.
The boy was Evenson and her partner, Marilyn Tobin's, first child.
The pregnant teacher sues school for discrimination and in the 12-page document, Evenson reportedly challenged the district in saying that it breached its contract with her and discriminated against her because she was pregnant and because she is female. The suit vied for the district breaking federal and state laws.
Evenson received damages from the firing which included loss of wages, benefits and emotional distress, reports the Montana Standard. Pregnant teacher sues school and according to the Associated Press, she is seeking back pay, benefits, compensatory and punitive damages and a jury trial.
Evenson had been teaching grades 6 through 8 in the subjects literature and physical education at Butte Central Catholic Schools. After working there for nine years, she was fired in Jan. 10 after the Helena Diocese received an anonymous letter about her pregnancy.
Evenson, unmarried, became pregnant in 2013 via artificial insemination.
The pregnant teacher sues school and in defense, the school district said it fired her because she violated the terms of her contract, which reportedly required her to practice the doctrine of the Catholic faith inside and outside the classroom.
According to the lawsuit, the superintendent of schools for the diocese at that time, Patrick Haggarty, called Evenson into a meeting on Jan. 9, 2014. He told her that he and the Bishop of Helena received the anonymous letter and that its contents are a violation of her contract.
Haggarty said, "The Catholic moral teaching is that the sacrament of marriage is a holy union between a man and a woman."
He added, "And we certainly believe and we teach our children who attend our schools about the sacrament of marriage. That's as old as our church."
"Not only do we teach that to the children kindergarten through 12th grade, but we're held to that standard as well," he said.
When he suggested for Evenson to resign, Evenson refused.
On Jan. 12, 2014, Haggarty reportedly sent Evenson a letter via email, stating that she was immediately terminated for having a child unmarried.
The pregnant teacher sues school saying that she was fired because of her sex and pregnancy.
In her suit against the school, it is said that the district originally does not investigate male employees and non-pregnant female employees in complying with Catholic Church teachings. The only means of knowing compliance is in the "observation of pregnancy in unmarried women.''
Evenson performed all obligations under her contract, and what the district did a breach of that contract.
Through lawyer Brian Butler of Ohio, the pregnant teacher sues school. The discrimination charge was filed early this month with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. They will be investigating the firing of Evenson.
Last spring, Butler told The Montana Standard that Evenson is protected from discrimination on the basis of pregnancy by title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
According to the AP, Butler has already won a similar case in Ohio with a $170,000 jury award. It was against an Ohio archdiocese where he represented an unmarried woman who had become pregnant while working at a Catholic school.
Butler said of Evenson's case, "They told her she was fired for being pregnant and unmarried. Nobody was hiding anything. (Shaela) never denied the fact that she's in a relationship with Marilyn."
Meanwhile, school officials denied the firing had connection with Evenson being in a same-sex relationship.
Pregnant teacher sues school and when asked about the issue, school officials referred all questions to the diocese, and diocesan spokesman Dan Bartleson. Bartleson declined to comment on Friday, stating that the diocese wants to see how the Bankruptcy Court decides the claim should be handled after they filed for bankruptcy protection in January.
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