Teachers sue over early-retirement program found to be illegal
Two teachers and a former principal have filed a law suit in Vermont state court against their school district and teachers' union for negligence and age discrimination based on negotiating an early-retirement program later found to be illegal. The suit involves an agreement under which each of the retired educators was to receive successive increases of $3,000 in annual salary in each of their last three years working. The increases were to yield an extra $250 per month in retirement benefits. The plaintiffs, Readsboro Central School teachers Ellie Roden and Dennis Butchko and former principal David Switz, filed the suit after receiving letters from school Superintendent Peter Wright saying state law barred the agreement. The superintendent’s letter cites a state law that prohibits school districts from using pay increases in excess of 10% to calculate the final compensation on which retirement benefits are based unless the pay increases came with substantially increased duties. The law specifically excludes from consideration the "senior teacher" status each of the plaintiffs had been granted. Robert Shalit, the plaintiffs' lawyer, contends, "The plaintiffs tendered good and valuable consideration and suffered detriment in reliance on the collective bargaining agreement and on the oral representations ... that the collective agreement would apply to them." The union is seeking dismissal from the suit on the grounds that it did not negotiate the collective bargaining agreement in dispute.
Boston Globe
By Associated Press
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