Measure Twice, Cut Once

 

On July 31, 2006, in Rocklin, an affluent suburb of Sacramento, CA. a parent arrived at the Phoenix school to enroll her child. She was given a tour and told that there were no openings for her child. She was offered to be placed on the waiting list because at the time the school was short staffed due to two recent teacher resignations. The family was disappointed and sent an email to Phoenix administration complaining about what they were told. On the strength of that email, Phoenix administration decided to terminate the principal who had been with the school for 12 years. The principal, who made roughly $42k a year sued Phoenix citing state regulations limiting the number of students per staff that could exist on her site. Essentially, if they wanted to enroll more kids, they would need to hire more staff. Placer County Judge, James Garbolino sided with the principal to the tune of $1.75 million. 

 

Roughly 6 out of 10 employers face employee lawsuits. The EEOC secures about $404 million dollars from employers each year due to settlements or court awards. According to Cutting Edge Recruiting Solutions (CERS), “An average out of court settlement is about $40,000. In addition, 10 percent of wrongful termination and discrimination cases result in a $1 million dollar settlement. The majority of cases, about 67 percent, are ruled in the plaintiff’s favor when taken to litigation.” CERS continues, “Plus, litigation costs are on the rise. During 2008, the average cost of litigation was $115 million. This is up 73 percent from $66 million in 2000… This is an average increase of 9 percent each year.”

 

By accepting a leadership role you are accepting all rights and responsibilities that come with it. Most people like the rights but ignore the responsibilities, a very expensive mistake. A quick look at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) statistics will tell you a few important things. 1. Claims filed in court are common and 2. These cases are very expensive. Not only do the organizations have to swallow these big settlements but they are often ordered to pay the legal fees of both sides. Fortunately, I’ve never been on the broad side of one of these cases, my guess is that after it's settled the organizations vow to never travel that road again. Then they do. My hope is that we follow the old construction idiom, “measure twice, cut once”. In the context of this conversation, think twice before your actions land you in court. 

Did the Phoenix School top administration not know about the student-staff ratio rule? Did they not ask the principal about her decision? Did they not look into her explanation? Did they not seek legal advice? I don’t know the answer to any of these questions and there is too much time and distance for me to seek it. What I do know is that a little time spent investigating could have saved the district embarrassment, time, and $1.75 million. For starters, the principal shouldering the kind of responsibility that could get her fired for $42,000 a year is taking advantage of that principal. That salary likely made executives feel like she was dispensable. In truth, many of these private, for profit schools are led by business executives, and not educators who are versed in the education code. Their unfamiliarity combined with a lack of information and a feeling that this person is expendable could easily explain an email that resulted in a termination of the principal. 

It isn’t only private schools who allow themselves to make decisions that result in expensive court awards. In 2003, Becky Romano, an assistant principal with the Oxnard School District in southern California, suffered a work-related injury. She returned to work in August 2004 at Rio Mesa High School with a full clearance from her physician. Her superiors in the school district felt as if she was physically unable to do her job and forced her out. She later found work as a high school principal. After securing employment in another district, in 2006, she filed a suit with the Oxnard School District. Over two years, her attorney reached out to the district 16 times making attempts to settle for $75k, the district never responded. These attempts to settle became part of her claim against the district. The court sided with Becky Romano and awarded her $150k. The Ventura County Star (The Star) submitted a legal information request to the district inquiring how much was spent on the case, the district refused so The Star took the district to court. The court sided with The Star and the district paid court costs and shared the information. This information revealed that the district paid $532,123 in legal fees for a case that could have been settled for $75k. 

 Measure twice, cut once. 

To be fair, many cases that are filed with EEOC, Department of Labor (DOL), Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) and others are determined to be unfounded. What leaders need to consider is whether the effort and expense is worth it. Taking the time to work with employees, ask questions, and challenge information you get is time consuming and frustrating but it is far less taxing than the legal process. Furthermore, it takes away from the important business that you signed up for when you took the job.  Yes, going to court and dealing with claims may be a part of your leadership journey anyway but don’t set yourself up by not covering your bases. Remain in control of your ego, take your time, measure twice and you will SOAR!

 

William A. Brown

May 3, 2020

https://www.cersnow.com/blog/the-average-employee-lawsuit-costs-250000how-safe-is-your-company/

https://calaborlaw.com/teacher-wins-18-million-jury-award-for-wrongful-termination/

https://calaborlaw.com/district-spends-532k-on-lawsuit-that-settles-for-150k/