Transfers From Teacher’s Class Ruled Illegal
SAN FRANCISCO — The state labor commissioner says a Bakersfield school district violated California law by transferring 15 students from the eighth-grade science class of a teacher who was perceived to be gay.
State law prohibits employment discrimination based on sexual orientation, whether actual or perceived, said the ruling by Chief Deputy Labor Commissioner Jose Millan, made public Tuesday.
By granting parents’ requests to remove their children from James D. Merrick’s class, the Rio Bravo-Greeley Union School District “fostered different treatment in an aspect of employment based upon [his] perceived sexual orientation,” Millan wrote.
Monday’s ruling would require the district to return the students to Merrick’s class. The one-campus rural district has about 800 students.
The district can appeal the ruling to state Industrial Relations Director Stephen J. Smith.
Merrick, a teacher for 40 years, was hired by the district in 1994 and once was named teacher of the year by the Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce.
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