Teachers in a Long Island school district are not entitled to paid leave for religious holidays, a Brooklyn appellate court has ruled, holding that a contract provision that had permitted the arrangement was unconstitutional.
"[T]he clear wording of the religious holidays provision rewarded members of the Association who claimed to be religiously observant with more paid days off than those afforded to agnostics, atheists, and members who were less observant. As a result, the religious holidays provision violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution," a unanimous panel of Appellate Division, Second Department, wrote on March 27 in Mineola Union Free School District v. Mineola Teachers Association, 2011-11373.
