A school district terminated a teacher who had been arrested for being under the influence and possession of a narcotic. That arrest was prominently displayed in the local paper. That teacher had excellent evaluations and there had never been any issues at work related to her substance abuse. While the teacher successfully participated in a […]
Tag: Margaret Olney
Arbitrator Orders Reinstatement of Speech Language Pathologist
In this case, an Educational Service District terminated a well-respected speech language pathologist with no history of discipline for “theft of services.” The dispute arose because the educator often worked away from her assigned work space, which is extremely noisy and distracting. As a professional who had historically travelled from work site to work site, […]
Arbitrator Rules that Educational Service District Violated the Contract by Failing to Treat Travel Time as Work Time
The Linn-Benton-Lincoln Education Service District provides services to 12 school districts across three counties. The majority of its certified employees are itinerant, providing services at various schools within the ESD. Most are headquartered in Albany. Travel time to school sites ranges from 15 minutes from headquarters to 2 hours away. Under past practice, travel time […]
Federal Court Finds School District Violated Teachers’ and Students’ First Amendment Rights
On the eve of a 2012 teacher strike, the Eagle Point School District adopted policies banning all signs and picketing activity on school property. The Eagle Point Education Association promptly notified the District that the policies were unconstitutional but the District refused to modify them. During the strike, the District strictly enforced its new policies […]
Arbitrator Finds Portland School District Violated High School Workload Contract Provisions
Attorney Margaret Olney has represented local associations throughout the state in efforts to protect their members from the constant pressure of being required to do more work for the same pay. Most recently, she won a second arbitration for the Portland Association of Teachers (PAT) relating to high school workload. The first arbitration arose in […]
Teacher Order Reinstated with Back Pay
The District sought to dismiss a special education teacher for poor performance and neglect of duty. Although she had always received excellent evaluations, the District placed her on a plan of assistance in December, based largely on concerns regarding her effectiveness managing two severely behaviorally challenged students during that school year. Before the plan started, […]
Special Post: Challenges to Fair Share
It is no secret that many members of the United States Supreme Court are extremely hostile to unions. In Knox v. SEIU, 132 S. Ct. 2277 (2012), the Court held that the Union failed to follow the proper procedures when it increased its dues and fair share fees for political purposes related to several hotly […]
Initiative and Ballot Title Challenges
As anyone involved in ballot measure campaigns can attest to, the wording of the ballot title for a prospective initiative can make the difference in whether proponents will even gather signatures and, if the measure qualifies for the ballot, the difference between winning and losing a campaign. For almost 20 years, Margaret Olney has worked with […]
In Case of First Impression, Arbitrator Finds District Overreached in Labeling Teacher’s Inappropriate Statements as “Sexual Conduct”
A school district determined that a teacher had engaged in “sexual conduct” within the meaning of ORS 339.370 based on comments he made about the meaning of song lyrics to his 7th grade choir. Essentially, when asked, the educator told the girls that teenage boys are often insincere and just want to have sex. The […]
Oregon’s Domestic Partnership Law Successfully Defended
Margaret Olney successfully represented Intervenors Basic Rights Oregon in a lawsuit brought by a conservative religious foundation to qualify a referendum for the ballot that would have repealed Oregon’s domestic partnership law. We successfully defended the state’s signature verification process before the U.S. District Court and the Ninth Circuit, resulting in the domestic partnership law […]