Teacher sues Beaufort County schools on behalf of all teachers over COVID pay
A teacher is suing Beaufort County School District on behalf of all teachers who work there, claiming the school district shortchanged them for work during the COVID pandemic with a one-time bonus instead of an hourly rate.
District teachers got a $1,000 one-time bonus in December for teaching students in-person and online at the same time during quarantines in the fall semester.
That payment was sent out after plaintiff Amanda Patel, a teacher at Whale Branch Middle School, filed her lawsuit on Dec. 8. (Non-teacher employees are getting a $1,000 bonus this month.)
The teacher bonus was approved by the school board in September, the same week that Whale Branch Middle was moved entirely remote for a severe COVID outbreak that left more than half of the student body quarantining.
In her lawsuit, Patel points to a clause in the district’s salary and stipend handbook that says “certified staff who provided any instructional duties beyond the scope of their normal work schedule at the request of the school or district will be paid as the rate of $27.87 per hour for this work. This only applies to duties that provide direct instruction to students.”
Patel is asking for herself and other teachers — the district employs more than 1,700 — who were eligible for the bonus to be paid three times the cost of their unpaid wages under the hourly rate.
“Defendants breached the contract of the Plaintiffs by the Board vote to pay $1,000 instead of the amounts clearly set forth in the Beaufort County School District Salary and Stipend Schedules,” the lawsuit reads.
It’s unclear how much money this payout would actually be. The $1,000 bonus equals about 35 hours under the hourly rate for extra instructional duties that’s outlined in the salary handbook, or roughly a week’s worth of work.
Patel also asked for a judge to declare the board’s vote on the $1,000 bonus “unenforceable” and to stop the $1,000 bonus from being sent out, neither of which happened.
Patel referred questions to her lawyers, Olin McDougall, Daniel Haltiwanger and Brady Thomas. None responded immediately to requests for comment.