Gay retired teacher wins civil rights suit

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A Court of Common Pleas judge has sided with a retired Gateway School District art teacher who sued the district, alleging that Gateway violated his civil rights in its determination that his husband would have to pay an extra premium for retiree health insurance because the two were not married at the time of his retirement.

“This decision should send a message to public employers that they cannot treat gay employees differently from their heterosexual employees in the benefits provided or in the opportunity to obtain those benefits,” said Samuel Cordes, the attorney who represented art teacher Richard Seech.

Mr. Seech worked for the district as a teacher from 1979 until 2013 and has been in a committed relationship with another man since 1996. When he retired, he could not get married to his partner under Pennsylvania law.

Mr. Seech did marry his partner on June 4, 2014, approximately two weeks after the court decision that legalized it in Pennsylvania.

Under Gateway’s policy, health benefits are only available to spouses if they are married to the employee at the time of retirement. Those who get married afterwards can be added to the policy but must pay a monthly premium increase — approximately $888 per month in Mr. Seech’s case.

Gateway’s attorneys could not be reached for comment following the decision, but argued during the case that Mr. Seech was being treated exactly as any heterosexual employee who had married after retirement. “In all actuality, he is seeking preferential treatment,” argued the district. “Plaintiff, by way of his complaint, is seeking to have this court confer on him a benefit that is not otherwise available to all other retirees regardless of sexual orientation.”

Mr. Seech, in contrast, argued that lesbian and gay employees had been deprived of any way to qualify for the benefits afforded to heterosexual couples. He sued the district in April 2016.

Judge Alan Hertzberg ruled Thursday in favor of Mr. Seech, awarding him $50,000 and attorney’s fees.