EdLawConnect Blog

While school and community college districts have policies and complaint procedures to address overt unlawful discrimination and harassment in the workplace, there is a more subtle aspect of workplace culture which creates potential liability for employers – microaggressions.

On April 6, 2016, a California Court of Appeal determined that under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”) an employer has an obligation to provide a reasonable accommodation for an employee’s association with a disabled individual. (Castro-Ramirez v. Dependable Highway Express, Inc. (2016) 246 Cal.App.4th 180.)  To date, no other court has decided that the FEHA requires an employer to ...

On July 16, 2015, Governor Brown approved an amendment to Government Code section 12940 prohibiting an employer or other covered entity from retaliating, or otherwise discriminating, against a person for requesting accommodation of his or her disability or religious beliefs, regardless of whether the accommodation request was granted.

The legislation stems from the Court of Appeal’s decision in Rope ...

Despite YouTube’s Popularity with School-Age Youth, Teachers Should Think Twice Before Asking Students to Upload Class Projects to YouTube

In a previous post, we discussed some of the legal issues associated with students uploading coursework on YouTube. This EdLawConnect entry continues that discussion.

Bullying-Related Concerns

Perhaps the most salient concern with students uploading their own ...

In the landmark case of Plyler v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202 (1982), the United States Supreme Court held that a state may not deny access to a basic, free public education to a child because that child is undocumented.  In addition, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title 42, United States Code, section 2000d) prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin, and the implementing regulations ...

The California Education Code establishes the length of minimum school days for students based on grade levels. The minimum school day for students grades four through twelve is two-hundred and forty (240) minutes or four hours per school day.  Whereas, the minimum school day for grades one through three is two-hundred and thirty (230) minutes or three hours and fifty minutes per school day.  (Ed. Code §§ ...