OKC district agrees to pay ex-teacher $400,000

Oklahoma City Public Schools has agreed to pay $400,000 to a former teacher who complained in a lawsuit about being subjected to an “ongoing course of harassment” because of a disability.

The school board approved the settlement Monday night.

Rhonda Richey was a fifth-grade teacher at Eugene Field Elementary School in 2013 when she was diagnosed with ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord.

Richey alleged in a federal lawsuit that when she disclosed her disability and requested a reduced work schedule, Principal Paige Bressman “engaged in an ongoing course of harassment of Plaintiff because of her disability.”

“Shortly after being notified of Plaintiff’s disability, Paige Bressman caused Plaintiff’s roster of children to be changed to a group of academically low students that would increase the physical and mental demands upon Plaintiff and directly affect her medical condition as a method of harassment designed to cause Plaintiff to quit her job because of her disability,” the complaint stated.

In the lawsuit, Richey alleged violations of the Family and Medical Leave Act and the Americans With Disabilities Act and complained she was denied vacant positions that would accommodate her disability.

“Defendants discriminated against Plaintiff by terminating her on July 14, 2016 and by denying her reemployment to positions for which she was qualified and more senior ... ,” the lawsuit stated.

In a statement, district spokeswoman Beth Harrison said “the parties have reached a mutually agreeable resolution of the case.”

Richey’s attorney could not immediately be reached Monday night. Laura Holmes, the attorney representing the district, declined to comment.

The case was settled Nov. 27, court documents show.