Connecticut Teacher Learns Radio Show Appearance Has Stern Consequences

MayorBob.

Posted to Legal on Thu Jul 17, 2008 at 05:45:54 PM EST (promoted by port1080). RSS.

The way Marie Jarry sees it, she made a mistake, but a mistake many people make. What the Southington, Connecticut elementary school teacher did was call out sick when she really wasn't. As a result she believes she was coerced into resigning from her job. Teaching school is something Jarry loves almost more than anything and she wants her job back. But, because the teacher's real purpose in faking her sick absence was to appear on a contest run on the Howard Stern Show, the school system won't let her back on the payroll. Thus, she's suing to get her job back.

Jarry admits faking a sick call out back on May 1st. But she claims she did it with the best of intentions; if she and her husband won the show's "Ugliest Guy, Hottest Wife" contest, they'd win (US)$5,000. She and her husband were going to use the money to help pay $13,000 towards a masters degree. She also says she doesn't believe she "did anything on the show that affected (her) responsibilities as a teacher." The web site thesmokinggun.com has pics of the happy couple on the show so you can assess whether it was behavior consistent with second grade teachers. A day or two after she returned to her job she was summoned to the superintendent's office. She says she was pressured into resigning her tenured teaching position.

School superintendent Joseph Erardi says he never met with Jarry. He claims she met with teacher union reps instead. On May 8th she handed him the following note at a school board meeting -- "Kindly accept my irrevocable letter of resignation for personal reasons, effective today." Erardi says he considers the matter closed for public discussion. First, "she willingly submitted the letter" and he never got the opportunity to discuss a matter (sick leave abuse) about which the school has "great concerns." The school board chairman said that, although the letter of resignation was given to the board all personnel matters are left in Erardi's hands. Jarry admits she never met with Erardi; she says the teacher union reps made it clear the school intended to terminate her for her appearance on the show. Thus she gave the board her letter which she claims the union reps said could be rescinded by her within seven days. She since found out that she was not going to be able to do that. Now she has filed her lawsuit (7 pg pdf doc).

She claims that she was informed that the school viewed the sick leave abuse being aggravated by her violation of the "morals clause" in her employment contract. Her complaint is based upon claims her due process rights were violated and was the victim of gender discrimination. She also claims the incident represents "negligent infliction of emotional distress, and negligence." She's also suing the teacher union for failing their "duty of fair representation" to her. Even if she manages to prove her case and skirt the sick leave abuse issue, the question remains what rights to employers have to control off-duty behavior that isn't per se illegal? As demonstrated here and here, employers are becoming increasingly assertive in requiring employees not smoke, eat too much, or blog on their own time. Is wearing a bikini on a radio show enough to qualify as a morals issue?

It's more than a bit ironic that Jarry is contending her right to appear on the Stern show as not abrogating her morals clause, however. Earlier this year, a sexual harassment case was decided in favor of the plaintiff because her employer played the Stern show's "vulgar radio programming" thereby establishing a "hostile work environment."