A teacher in Florida has won her retaliation suit against a public school board. State Circuit Court Judge Mindy Glazer found that Miami-Dade County Public Schools retaliated against Sharon Simmons in violation of Florida’s Whistle-blowers Act. Glazer awarded Simmons $28,000 for her lost annual salary supplements from 2001 to 2007 that she would have made as activities director in addition to her teaching salary plus interest.
Simmons, a longtime math teacher, sued the School Board in Sharon Simmons v. Miami-Dade County Public Schools, claiming it retaliated against her for reporting what she saw as activities director by coercing her to leave the job voluntarily, a month after she took it. She sought to be compensated for the money she lost by no longer being activities director. A bench trial that included live testimony from 10 witnesses lasted two days.
