Linda Littlejohn v. Jack Rose, 768 F.2d 765 (6th Cir. 1985)

CASE: Teacher not rehired after divorce becomes public

FACTS: Littlejohn, a nontenured teacher with an excellent teaching record, was not recommended for being rehired at the Calloway County school system in Kentucky. She was divorced from her husband in July 1982, about the same time Calloway superintendent Jack Rose began maing recommendations for the reemployment of nontenured teachers. Littlejohn's principal and a member of the school board testified that Rose told them Littlejohn was not recommended to be rehired because the divorce. Littlejohn sued the superintendent under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 for violating her civil rights to privacy and liberty.

HOLDING: A school board violated a teacher's civil rights when it did not rehire her on the basis of her getting divorced from her husband because that activity was shielded by the constitutionally rights of privacy and liberty.

RATIONALE:

• Decisions of the Supreme Court have firmly established that "matters relating to marriage and family relationships" involve privacy rights that are constitutionally protected against unwarranted governmental interference.
• A person's involvement in a divorce falls within the activity sheilded by the constitutionally protected rights to privacy and liberty, so that denying employment for that reason is an impermissible reason for denying employment.

T O P