Unwed mother challenges N.Y. parochial school firing.A Catholic diocese in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of is fighting an unwed teacher's complaint that she was discriminated against because of being pregnant. Represented by the New York Civil Liberties Union The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) is one of the nation's foremost defenders of civil liberties and civil rights. Founded in 1951 as the New York affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, it is a not-for-profit, nonpartisan organization with six chapters and nearly (NYCLU NYCLU New York Civil Liberties Union ), former pre-K teacher Michelle McCusker filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC EEOC abbr. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission EEOC n abbr (US) (= Equal Employment Opportunities Commission) → comisión que investiga discriminación racial o sexual en el empleo ) over her discharge from St. Rose of Lima Saint Rose of Lima, (20 April, 1586 - 24 August, 1617), the first Catholic saint of the Americas, was born in Lima, Peru. Biography St. Rose was born April 20 1586, in the city of Lima, the capital of Peru. She received the baptismal name Isabel Flores de Oliva. Catholic School in 2005 for being a single, three-months-pregnant woman. In October, the EEOC sided with McCusker, concluding that the Catholic school discriminated against her because of her pregnancy and urged the school to settle the complaint. The Daily News reported that the Diocese of Brooklyn, which runs the school, was in negotiations with the NYCLU and that the EEOC's decision paves the way for a lawsuit if a settlement is not reached. The school has defended its firing of McCusker on religious liberty grounds, saying that McCusker's out-of-wedlock pregnancy rendered her unfit to "convey the faith, which is an essential element of her teaching duties." But McCusker's counsel disagreed. "St. Rose of Lima fired our client because she had ostensibly os·ten·si·ble adj. Represented or appearing as such; ostensive: His ostensible purpose was charity, but his real goal was popularity. engaged in non-marital sex, but it does not enforce this policy against male employees," said Donna Lieberman, NYCLU executive director. "Applying different policies to men and women is a double standard and constitutes sex discrimination and, in this case, pregnancy discrimination." McCusker told the newspaper that her challenge to the Catholic school's action is intended to "make the future better" for her daughter Jenna. McCusker also said that she would rear her daughter in the Catholic tradition. |
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