Freeport Area School District has sued its teachers union in a bid to overturn an arbitrator’s ruling that an employee was not required to use Family and Medical Leave Act time off.
A lawsuit filed last week in Butler County Court against the Freeport Education Association claimed first-grade teacher Claudine Rumbaugh could not use paid-time off, despite having enough available, while recovering from elbow surgery early last year.
That’s because employers must designate leaves for serious medical conditions as unpaid time off under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, the district argued.
When Rumbaugh notified the district of her planned procedure and estimated three-month absence, it said it had no choice but to process her request under the leave act.
On March 13, as Rumbaugh recuperated, the teachers union filed a grievance asserting the collective bargaining agreement gives employees the right to use or defer their Family and Medical Leave Act benefits.
The school board disagreed, leaving the matter up to arbitrator Marc Winter. He sided with the union on Dec. 16 — a decision the district now seeks to overturn in court.
Requests for comment to district Solicitor Matthew Hoffman and union lawyer Meaghan Chirillo were not immediately returned.
Union president Talan Conjack declined to comment.
