Independence School District retirees
receive $153,158 settlement of lawsuit
Six former Independence School District teachers, all members
of the Missouri National Education Association, received $153,158
in settlement of their lawsuit against the district. The lawsuit,
sponsored by the MNEA and filed more than three years ago,
charged that the district breached the teachers’ contracts
by refusing to pay them a retirement incentive contained in
board policy.
In March 2005, Judge Vernon Scoville of the Jackson County
Circuit Court found in favor of the retired teachers. He rejected
the district’s argument that the retirees had no contractual
right to the retirement incentive because the district was
free to rescind the incentive at any time.
The judge ordered the district to pay each retiree the full
amount of his or her incentive plus 9 percent pre-judgment
interest per year. The retirees’ incentive amounts ranged
from approximately $21,000 to $32,000 before interest. The
district appealed.
Shortly before the district’s appellate brief was
due, the plaintiffs accepted a settlement offer in which each
would receive 100 percent of the retirement incentive amount
but no pre-judgment interest. The plaintiffs filed a Satisfaction
of Judgment with the Circuit Court and released all claims
against the district, and the district dismissed its appeal.
“We are relieved that the plaintiffs in this case
finally received the retirement incentive which was part of
their contracts in 2001-02,” MNEA President Greg Jung
says. “The retirees should not have had to file a lawsuit
and wait over three years to get what they were owed, but
we are pleased with the result.”
The 33,000-member MNEA represents teachers, education support
professionals, students studying to be teachers and those
retired from teaching in public schools and on college campuses
across the state. It is the Missouri affiliate of the 2.7
million-member NEA, the largest education organization in
the nation.
For further information:
Carol
K. Schmoock
573-634-3202
January 18, 2006
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