LIBERTY TOWNSHIP, Ohio. (WXIX/Gray News) – A teacher in Ohio who was fired after she allegedly called out of work sick for two days to attend a concert in Nashville is suing the school board.
At the time of the incident, Eileen Washburn was an English teacher at Lakota West High School in the Lakota Local School District.
According to the lawsuit, the school district said Washburn “falsified sick leave” on Feb. 8 and 9, and that she told several colleagues that she was attending a concert in Nashville.
The school board said Washburn refused to answer questions regarding her whereabouts during that time and refused to discuss specifics on her alleged need for sick leave.
Washburn was placed on unpaid leave as the district investigated the incident. However, in October she was officially terminated.
Her attorney alleges that her conduct didn’t amount to sick leave abuse.
According to the suit, she provided the board with a doctor’s note from her primary care physician that explained she needed to miss work on Feb. 8 and Feb. 9 due to side effects from resuming a medication.
Washburn said she had a medically approved reason to use sick days, therefore the termination was wrongful.
The suit also claims that the board treated her differently than similarly-situated employees by terminating her for alleged abuse of sick leave “when other district employees were disciplined less harshly or not disciplined at all for using sick pay when they were not sick.”
In the filing, Washburn wants the school board to reinstate her teaching position, back pay and full restoration of seniority in all respects.
Lakota responded to the lawsuit with a filing of their own denying the allegations and saying “the record speaks for itself.”
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