03/21/2019
In Cleveland Board of Education v. LaFleur (1974), pregnant public school teachers challenged the constitutionality of mandatory maternity leave rules of the Cleveland, OH & Chesterfield County, VA School Boards.
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The Cleveland rule requires a pregnant school teacher to take unpaid maternity leave five months before the expected childbirth, with leave application to be made at least two weeks before her departure. Eligibility to return to work is not accorded until the next regular semester after her child is three months old.
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The Chesterfield County rule requires the teacher to leave work at least four months, & to give notice at least six months, before the anticipated childbirth. Re-employment is guaranteed no later than the first day of the school year after the date she is declared re-eligible. Both schemes require a physician's certificate of physical fitness prior to the teacher's return.
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It was found:
1. The mandatory termination provisions of both maternity rules violate the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
(a) The arbitrary cutoff dates (which obviously come at different times of the school year for different teachers) have no valid relationship to the State's interest in preserving continuity of instruction, as long as the teacher is required to give substantial advance notice that she is pregnant.
(b) The challenged provisions are violative of due process since they create a conclusive presumption that every teacher who is four or five months pregnant is physically incapable of continuing her duties, whereas any such teacher's ability to continue past a fixed pregnancy period is an individual matter; & the school boards' admin convenience alone cannot suffice to validate the arbitrary rules.
2. The Cleveland three-month return provision also violates due process, being both arbitrary and irrational. It creates an irrebuttable presumption that the mother is not fit to resume work, & it is not germane to maintaining continuity of instruction, as the precise point a child will reach the relevant age will occur at a different time throughout the school year for each teacher.
3. Chesterfield’s return rule comports w/ due process.