Compensation Awarded For Denied Lunch Periods and Break times

A school nurse represented by Paterson Education Association was awarded several hundred dollars as compensation due to missed lunch periods and break times over the course of the 2006-2007 school year. The compensation came as a result of an arbitrator's consent award in settlement of a grievance filed by the Association on behalf of Diane Cleary, the nurse assigned to School # 8 during the 2006-2007 school year.

The principal at School # 8 during the 2006-2007 school year, who has since left the District, would not allow Ms. Cleary to utilize the contractual preparation or break time as is stipulated in Article 7:2-6, demanding instead that she be in the Nurse's Office at all times. The principal went as far as to demand that if Cleary had to use the bathroom, she was required to contact the main office, get permission to leave her office, and wait until someone was sent to "cover" the Nurse's Office until she would be allowed to leave.

In addition, on occasion, the principal would not allow Ms. Cleary to take time for her forty (40) minute duty free lunch period according to Article 7:4.1 of the contract.

"This action on behalf of the principal is absolutely unacceptable by the Association", stated 1st Vice- President Jim Joyner. "Nowhere in America are employees blatantly treated in such a manner. The actions of the administrator were reprehensible and should have been stopped by the central administration as soon as they were reported." Instead, the grievance went before a panel arbitrator, and from there, the consent award (an agreement reached by the District and the Association through the efforts of the arbitrator) was reached.