COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - The lawyer representing a South Carolina teacher who sued her school district for requiring her to provide gift baskets and work in the school’s concession stand without being paid wants to open the lawsuit to educators across the state.
Shannon Burgess sued the Cherokee County School District, saying the district required her to make gift baskets for fundraisers and work without pay at athletic events, The Post and Courier of Charleston reported.
“She was taken advantage of. … We’re going after something I believe is so prevalent around our state,” said her lawyer John Reckenbeil, who argues districts are violating state and federal labor laws and Burgess’ action should become a class-action lawsuit.
Burgess is working at a different school district in South Carolina and the Charleston newspaper reported she did not want to be interviewed for their story.
Teacher and education groups across the state could not recall a similar lawsuit. And they are watching carefully. One of the biggest complaints from teachers who packed several public hearings on education bills before the Legislature and local school board meetings were unpaid duties - from chaperoning prom to baking cupcakes for school fundraisers.
“They even tell them what kind of mix to buy,” said Sherry East, president of the South Carolina Education Association.
“In a male-dominated profession, you’d never ask them to go home and bake,” she said. “It’s just a bad situation where it’s a lack of respect for the profession. You’d never ask your hairdresser, or a lawyer - you wouldn’t expect them to do things teachers are expected to do on their own time for free.”
Federal labor law says teachers are exempt from overtime and minimum wage rules when “teaching, tutoring, instructing or lecturing.”
In the lawsuit, Reckenbeil argues the exemption applies only when teachers are actually teaching, meaning they should be paid overtime when working non-academic functions outside of normal school hours.
Cherokee County School District, on the other hand, contends it covers any school related activities.
“It’s our position that when you’re employed as a certified teacher in a classroom, the district, as your employer, is acting lawfully when it assigns teachers to supplemental duties such as taking up tickets at a football game,” said Andrea White, the district’s attorney.
Burgess’ 2018-19 contract says just like all other South Carolina teachers she must perform her assigned duties and “the administration may assign reasonable extracurricular activities.”
The lawsuit may hinge on what’s “reasonable.”
Burgess’ lawsuit said she was required to spend her own money on classroom supplies and on gift baskets auctioned off to benefit the school’s parent-teacher organization. Teachers who didn’t help with the baskets were publicly shamed by the principal. The baskets were clearly labeled by class, and a list of teachers who had yet to do so was kept at the front office, Burgess said in her lawsuit.
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