NSBA Joins ‘Class of One’ Lawsuit

NSBA Joins ‘Class of One’ Lawsuit—WEB EXTRA

The National School Boards Association on Tuesday filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Engquist v. Oregon Department of Agriculture—a case that could affect all public employers in the nation, including school districts.

The issue in the case is whether an employee can file a constitutional “class-of-one” claim against a public employer under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. In essence, the question is whether an employee can sue a public employer claiming he or she was treated differently than other employees, regardless of the employee’s membership in a protected class such as gender or race.

The case involves an Oregon Department of Agriculture employee who experienced repeated difficulties with a coworker. She was passed over for a promotion, which was given to the coworker, and then she subsequently lost her job due to budget cuts. Her case states that as a “class of one,” her equal protection rights had been violated.

An adverse decision in this case could affect school districts by raising an employee’s challenge to any public employment decision—hiring, firing, transfer, pay, etc.—to the level of a constitutional claim, which would increase litigation costs. School districts are collectively the largest employer in the United States, according to the NSBA.

The NSBA brief notes that previous rulings “have concluded that, unless constrained, the ‘class of one’ remedial theory of equal protection could provide a federal cause of action for review of almost every state or local governmental personnel decision. This is in keeping with this court’s longstanding warning that the federal court is not the appropriate forum in which to review the multitude of personnel decisions that are made daily by public agencies.”

“We hope the Court agrees that scarce public schools dollars belong in the classroom, not in needless litigation,” NSBA Executive Director Anne L. Bryant said in a news release.

In its brief, NSBA urges the high court not to apply the Equal Protection Clause to treat school districts differently than private employers simply by virtue of the fact that they are public employers.