Stephanie Lovett-Bowman, Tuesday, January 04, 2011 | Filed under: Miscellaneous
An appellate court has ruled that a Kansas school district did not confer greater employment rights simply by defining the term “just cause” in the district’s employee handbook. The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, which hears appeals from Kansas federal court, recently denied a Unified School District employee’s due process claim because the employee lacked the required property interest in his employment to pursue such a claim.
Generally, demoted or fired employees may pursue due process claims when they have a property right in their employment – usually derived from a contractual requirement that the employee may only be terminated “for cause.” In the recent case, Brantley v. Unified School District, a driver for the school district’s food services department argued that because the employee handbook defined “just cause” under the heading “Suspension, Non-Renewal, Termination” he had a right to due process before being demoted. But the Tenth Circuit disagreed, reasoning that the “just cause” language referred to three categories of discipline that did not apply Brantley’s situation.
While the school district prevailed, the case serves as a reminder that employee handbooks must be carefully drafted to avoid claims like the one at issue in Brantley.