NEW ORLEANS PUBLIC SCHOOL EMPLOYEES JUSTICE

Who Can Participate?

The Rights of Tenured Employees are at Stake.
All permanent/tenured employees who were employed by the Orleans Parish School Board as of August 29, 2005 (Hurricane Katrina) are potential class members. This includes (but is not limited to) the following categories of employees:

Central Office Administrators
Central Office Clericals
School Site Administrators
School Site Clericals
Teachers
Social Workers
Nurses
Counselors
Librarians
Coaches
Support and Appraisal Service Employees
Para-educators
Interpreters
Custodians and Maintenance Employees
Transportation Workers
Food Service Employees and Cafeteria Workers
Security Personnel

If you are were a tenured employee of the Orleans Parish School Board as of August 29, 2005, and would like to obtain information, please use the Employee Contact Form at this website to submit your contact information to the Plaintiffs Interim Legal Committee. Potential class members include tenured employees who were terminated and tenured employees who were forced to retire after August 29, 2005.

On December 10, 2008, Civil District Court Judge Ethel Simms-Julien certified this lawsuit to proceed as a class action. Judge Simms-Julien approved the following definition of the class and subclasses:

“All current or former employees of the Orleans Parish School Board prior to Hurricane Katrina [August 29, 2005], who were terminated and/or forced to retire under the threat of termination from employment by the Orleans Parish School Board, and claim to have sustained economic injury and/or mental anguish and emotional distress as a result of termination and/or being forced to retire under the threat of termination from employment.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that the following subclasses of class members are offered:

Sub-Class 1: Tenured, Certified Teachers

Sub-Class 2: Tenured, Certified Teachers Promoted to Positions of Higher Salary

Former employees of the OPSB who, prior to August 29, 2005 [Hurricane Katrina], held valid teachers’ certificates issued by the State of Louisiana. They were employed by the Defendant OPSB as certified, tenured, state-approved public school teachers of regular or permanent status. Additionally, they had been promoted by the Defendant OPSB from a position of lower salary to a position of higher salary [management employees within the New Orleans Public School System], and had acquired the protection of a statutory contract for a period of at least two (2) years.

Sub-Class 3: Employees with “permanent status” other than classroom teachers

Former employees of the OPSB who, prior to August 29, 2005 [Hurricane Katrina], were designated as “permanent employees” of the OPSB other than classroom teachers and school site administrators. They had acquired regular or permanent employment status with the OPSB.

Sub-Class 4: Employees forced to retire under duress

Former employees of the OPSB who, prior to August 29, 2005 [Hurricane Katrina], were tenured employees of the OPSB and met the definition of Sub-Classes 1 through 3 above. These class members claim that they were forced into retirement as a result of the actions or omissions of the defendants.”