Appeals Court Sides With Teachers In Lawsuit

LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) — The Louisiana Third Circuit Court of Appeal has affirmed a state district judge's decision that the Lafayette Parish School Board owes two employees back pay.

The Advocate reports the judge also ordered the school system on Wednesday to reinstate the salaries the two educators earned while working at the now-closed Charter High School starting with the 2012-13 school year.

Jan Aillet, a librarian, and Marilyn Doucet, an English teacher, were displaced from Charter High School when it was closed at the end of the 2011-12 school year.

The women filed a lawsuit in district court in 2012. It state law that protects teacher pay from being reduced from the prior year's salary unless it involves a demotion, accounting error or loss of voter-approved funding for supplemental pay.