Court rules against teacher who reported unsafe work conditions

A Philadelphia area high school teacher is not eligible for disability after quitting her job, a resignation she said was due to unsafe work conditions and her post-traumatic stress disorder related to a violent “mob” altercation between students in her classroom that left her injured, according to a ruling issued Friday in a Pennsylvania courthouse.

The Upper Darby School District accepted the teacher’s workers compensation claim, filed following the February 2018 attack, and brought her back to work in August 2018 following her doctor’s release, according to documents in No. 429 C.D. 2019, filed in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg.

The teacher subsequently resigned and only after issuing her resignation letter did she tell the district that it was for health and safety reasons related to the attack, according to documents detailing her efforts to collect unemployment compensation.

The state’s Unemployment Compensation Board of Review denied her petition on the grounds that she “voluntarily quit for personal reasons.” Friday’s ruling affirmed, finding that the teacher only related her resignation to the attack after she resigned and that state law requires her in the event of unsafe work conditions to attempt to continue working for the employer.

“A claimant who voluntarily terminates employment has the burden of proving that a necessitous and compelling cause existed,” the ruling states.

The teacher “contends” that the employer “must be charged with knowledge of (her) legitimate safety concerns.” Although, she claims the employer “simply did not care about [these] concerns” and “chose to do nothing about” them, the ruling states.

“(I)n attempting to shift the onus to Employer, Claimant evidently fails to appreciate that she bears the burden of proving that she made a reasonable effort to preserve her employment,” the ruling states.