PHILADELPHIA – A federal magistrate judge granted several motions for summary judgment in a case against the School District of Philadelphia, a staffing agency and others filed by a woman terminated from her position as a lead clinician.
The judge found that plaintiff Erica Parker failed to present enough evidence to prove a First Amendment retaliation claim, according to the Nov. 21 memorandum order. U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas J. Reuter filed the order.
"The undisputed evidence of record, viewed in a light most favorable to plaintiff and resolving all inferences in her favor, demonstrates that plaintiff spoke as a public employee when she made a suspicion of abuse report to ChildLine," the order states. "As such, the First Amendment does not protect the speech at issue."
The judge granted summary judgment in favor of all the defendants and against the plaintiff on her First Amendment claim.
Reuter also found that the plaintiff failed to provide evidence that was sufficient enough to establish a wrongful termination claim under state law.
Parker was retained by defendant Staffing Plus and in 2015, she was referred to Interact by Staffing Plus to work as a lead clinician and she worked through Interact at Blaine Elementary School and, later, at Edward T. Steel Elementary School.
Parker worked with a student on Oct. 5 and 6, 2015, and felt the information she received from the child should be reported to ChildLine on suspicion of abuse. About a week later, she was informed she would no longer be working at the elementary school and was sent to work at a day care center for a few months, the ruling states.
The plaintiff believes she was let go from Steel because she had reported the possible abuse to ChildLine. She claims several employees at the school and with Interact and Staffing Plus conspired to terminate her employment.
The defendants argued Parker's paperwork was always full of errors and that it would have caused Interact the ability to procure funding due to the deficiencies in her paperwork, according to the order.
Reuter concluded that no reasonable juror would conclude that the ChildLine call was the reason for Parker's dismissal from the school.
"Furthermore, despite her protestations otherwise, the evidence does not support plaintiff’s claim that the proffered explanation for plaintiff’s removal from Steel was false and that retaliation was the real reason for the adverse employment action," Reuters wrote. "Indeed, the evidence does not support plaintiff’s theory that her report to ChildLine was perceived in a negative light by decision makers at Steel, resulting in her removal from Steel."
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania case number 2:17-cv-01744