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BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — The Boston Teachers Union filed a lawsuit against Boston Public Schools over remote work accommodations on Sunday.
The union brought the suit on behalf of eight employees, claiming the school district violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and similar state laws by requiring that they teach in person or ignoring their requests to work from home.
The lawsuit lists an example of one employee who requested to work from home last January because she had diabetes, and got a response ordering her to return to in-person work with three days notice. The complaint said the woman later caught COVID, and had to miss a month of work, only returning when she was fully vaccinated.
Another employee said she waited more than four months for a response from the school, only to have her request to work from home denied. The suit said neither the principal of her school or the central administration took responsibility for the rejection.
The union is accusing the district of disability discrimination and a hostile work environment, as well.
The Boston School Committee is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed a day before Boston Superintendent Brenda Cassellius announced that she would be resigning at the end of the 2021-2022 school year.
The union is looking for unspecified damages and attorney's fees. Boston Public Schools responded to WBZ NewsRadio on Monday evening, saying it had no comment on the pending litigation.
WBZ's Brooke McCarthy (BrookeWBZ) has more:
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