Do teachers have a right to be safe?

 Do teachers have a right to be safe?

 

Apparently not according to both  district and circuit courts. Two teachers acknowledged that they voluntarily accepted work in an alternative school for middle school students with social and/or emotional issues.  However, the teachers charged that the district failed to do what it needed to do to protect the security and safety of the staff.  The teachers asserted that students threatened teachers, damaged furniture and technology and name called and bullied other students and staff.  The teachers went to court and asserted what they believed to be their right to a safe workplace. Their case was first heard in the District Court which ruled that there was no Constitutional guarantee of a safe workplace.  They were sure that was wrong so they appealed to the Sixth Circuit.  Although the court empathized  with the teachers, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals  found no constitutional right claim.

The teachers claimed that their right to due process under the 14^th amendment to the Constitution had been breached.  However, the Supreme Court found in 1989 that while there are limits on state power it does not guarantee safety and security.  Other court cases have also found that states do not have a constitutional obligation to ensure a workplace free of unreasonable risks of harm.   More significantly, the court held “federal law does not support a cause of action for due process violations against a school district, even if its workplace is unreasonably dangerous, and the district fails to warn it its employees of the danger.”  (emphasis added).    Also interestingly, the Court noted that the school district had no constitutional duty to protect people not in its custody.  Which might mean there is a constitutional duty on the part of the state to protect prisoners in penal institutions but not to state employees. 

While this case was specific to teachers claiming harm from the potential of physical violence, it does not seem like a big leap to teachers claiming harm from the “potential” of illness from a virus if the school district has exercised reasonable precautions and therefore avoids “unreasonable risks of harm”.    Since the court asserted a state’s obligation to protect only those in it custody, one would imagine that the court expects teachers to make their own decisions regarding where they will and will not work.  It would appear that there is no constitutional right or expectation  for teachers to be in a safe workplace, but their freedom to work elsewhere is still intact.