FORT MYERS — A federal court has refused to dismiss a former teacher's lawsuit against the Collier County School Board, alleging that her termination was due to age discrimination.
Judge John E. Steele's ruling in U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, denied Collier County School Board's motion to dismiss claims for negligent infliction of emotional distress and violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act.
Judge Steele found that former teacher Barbara Goldsworthy was in a protected class, and that a reasonable person could conclude that the defendant “intended to discriminate on the basis of [Plaintiff’s] age."
In writing the order for Florida’s Middle District Court, Judge Steele granted and denied part of the Collier County School Board’s motion to dismiss the complaint alleging Goldsworthy was fired due to her age and has suffered emotional distress.
Goldsworthy filed a complaint against the District School Board of Collier County, Florida, in 2017 for claims of intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress, violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, retaliation in violation of the ADEA, and retaliation in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Goldsworthy stated in court documents that she was an Exceptional Student Education teacher at Poinciana Elementary School, but due to low test scores, was not hired back for the 2012-2013 school year. Goldsworthy claimed she given instead the position of a Modified Curriculum 1 (MC1) teacher for the 2012-2013 school year, teaching severely disabled and “difficult to control students”, and was injured several times in the two years she was an MC1 teacher.
Goldsworthy filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaint after a representative from human resources told her she could not do any other job if she could not work successfully as an MC1 teacher, according to the complaint. .
Goldsworthy took an ESE teaching position at North Naples Middle school after agreeing to drop her EEOC but was told in 2015 that they could not extend her contract because there were not enough ESE students to hire her for the next year. The complaint states that the other ESE teachers were hired back, and that only one of the ESE teachers had had more seniority than her, and another teacher was much younger than her. Goldsworthy was unable to find another teaching job for the 2015-2016 school year and filed her complaint in May 2017.
The School Board filed a motion to dismiss the claims for being time-barred and barred by the Florida impact rule, claiming they are immune by Florida’s Workers’ Compensation Law. The motion claims that Goldsworthy failed to prove the Board’s conduct was extreme and outrageous, and failed to “alleged a causal link between Plaintiff’s filing of her EEOC claim and her DROP extension being denied.”
The order dismissed Goldsworthy’s claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress without prejudice, finding that she failed to allege any facts that the Board acted in an extreme or outrageous manner. Judge Steele dismissed the claim for retaliation in violation of the ADEA and claim for retaliation in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, stating that the complaint “alleges no facts plausibly indicating that the NNMS principal who denied Plaintiff’s DROP extension in 2015 was aware of Plaintiff’s 2012 EEOC claim.”
Judge Steele denied the motion to dismiss the claims for negligent infliction of emotional distress and violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, finding that Goldsworthy was in a protected class, and that a reasonable person could conclude that the defendant “intended to discriminate on the basis of [Plaintiff’s] age.
The Court Order granted leave to amend the complaint within 60 days.
United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Case Number 2:17-cv-239-JES-CM