ADVERSE EMPLOYMENT ACTIONS AND PUBLIC SCHOOL ...

In Hatcher v. Board of Public Education (1987 U.S. App.), the Bibb County School
Board realigned and closed several schools. Hatcher was the principal of one such school and
following the realignment she was reassigned to a librarian position and denied administrative
positions that arose following the realignment. Those positions were filled by administrators with
less experience than Hatcher possessed. Hatcher, in part, successfully demonstrated that her
denial of reassignment to an administrative position following realignment was associational
retaliation for her support of protests to not close her school during the realignment period.
Similarly, in Daury v. Smith (1988 U.S. App.), Daury claimed that he was demoted from his
principal position during a period of district realignment as retaliation for his participation in
union activities. However, Daury poorly argued this point and the court could not support this
thread of argumentation.
Constructive discharges. Table 24 represents six cases were the adversely affected
administrators claimed that school system made their work environment so unbearable that they
had no choice but to resign. This action is called a constructive discharge. Of the six claims, two
involved terminations while the other four were reassignments. In each of the constructive
discharge cases that involved a reassignment, the employee noted a deprivation of former duties
or an abridgment of power in some capacity. These reassignments were very near to demotions
and may have been more well-received by the courts as the employee prevailed in only one of
the cases.
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