Age Discrimination Win in Pennsylvania
One of the problems teachers faced in pre-union days was age discrimination. With the advent of tenure senior teachers could no longer be dismissed without cause.
But discrimination takes forms other than just firings. And discrimination, including age discrimination, is not a thing of the past.
A recent Appeals Court decision upheld for 3 female teachers in a Western Pennsylvania school district who claimed that they entered the system at Step 1, but that 7 younger teachers hired after them were hired at higher steps. The District contended that there were reasons to offer the other teachers more (hard to fill spots), but clearly there had been no such policy in place, and they were trying to justify themselves after the fact. Younger men were starting at higher salaries than older women.
Perhaps most worrying about this whole thing is to be found on an education administration website. They hold this up as a model of how not to discriminate, then give employers careful advice on how they can discrimate without violating labor laws. It is worth reading how slick they are. Click here.
Thanks to Citizens Against Racism and Discrimination for the link. They showed up on the wordpress teachers tag.
JD2718 
It’s like we’re back to the good old days. I’m afraid that here in the city things will be even worse, being contractually approved and all.
The mayor can now break big schools into small schools, and send entire staffs into a purgatory of permanent sub service. If that isn’t meant to discourage teachers from continuing I don’t know what is.
And I’d be very surprised if there weren’t a follow-up in the next contract to dismiss such individuals. Will Unity stand up to something like that?
I am really interested how the open transfer system worked. Without any proof, except for two older teachers who didn’t get the positions they applied for, I suspect you will find some discrimination of the older teacher.
I hope the union pushes DOE in showing them the statistics.
In these days of tighter budgets, I suspect a lot of this is going on. I’ve applied for 40 positions in 6 months and have had 1 interview. I think as soon as they see they have to put me on step 10, I’m out of the running.
I was 58 when I graduated with honors in a Master’s program. I cannot get a teaching adjunct position in a community college anywhere. I’ve since discovered from insiders that nepotism is a huge issue. I resent this. I have over 30 years experience and am qualified.