Teacher sues school district for placing him in 'teacher jail'

California has an anti-SLAPP law that is designed to provide for early dismissal of meritless lawsuits filed against people for the exercise of First Amendment rights. The acronym SLAPP stands for "strategic lawsuit against public participation." Twenty-nine states have similar laws. The laws were developed in response to a trend of lawsuits filed to intimidate or silence people who had spoken out in the public arena.

In this case, the Los Angeles Unified School District attempted to use the anti-SLAPP mechanism to dismiss a teacher's lawsuit alleging its policy of placing teachers on paid suspension during investigations had a disparate impact on teachers based on their age, race, and national origin.

Facts

Junnie Verceles, who is Filipino and was 46 years old when his complaint was filed in March 2019, had been employed by the Los Angeles Unified School District as a teacher since 1998. On December 1, 2015, he was removed from his school and placed on paid suspension because of an allegation of misconduct. Verceles wasn't told the specifics of the allegation, only that he had been accused of misconduct involving a student.

Verceles remained on paid suspension, which he referred to as "teacher jail," for more than three years. In November 2016, while the district's investigation was still ongoing, he filed an age and national origin discrimination complaint with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH). On March 13, 2018, the district's Board of Education voted to terminate his employment.

Trial court SLAPPs down suit