Newark, NJ, black school employees allegedly linked to insurance fraud file bias lawsuit

Jet, June 16, 1997

A group of Black school employees in Newark, NJ, who were suspended without pay after allegations that they were involved in an insurance fraud case recently filed a lawsuit maintaining the suspensions were discriminatory and unfair.

The employees also maintain that they were treated differently from White employees in other school districts who were also allegedly involved in the fraud case.

"We feel that this is unfair," said Elaugh Butler, who was suspended from her job as a librarian-teacher and is among the 20 suing employees.

"No other school district has reacted in this manner," she noted. Moreover, she maintained the Newark employees "were punished without so much as a hearing."

Among those named in the suit are the Newark Public School District, the state of New Jersey, the Newark Teachers Union and a service employees union.

The suit, filed in the U. S. District Court in Newark, claimed the Newark employees were "unlawfully suspended...based on unfounded allegations of wrongdoing"

No charges or indictments have been filed against the Newark employees.