When a longtime teacher and her boyfriend announced that they were having a baby, the pregnancy announcement meant the end of her teaching career.
Although Naiad Reich had been teaching at the same high school in Pennsylvania and had inspired students in her English and creative writing classes, she was forced to leave her job when she told school administration that she and her longtime boyfriend were expecting a baby.
At the end of the week when she told the school’s administration about her pregnancy, Reich, 31, was called into the front office and told that she was fired. Although the pregnancy was planned and conceived out of love, Reich was teaching at a Catholic high school.
Because Reich and her boyfriend did not yet have plans to get married, the school wanted her nowhere near the kids lest her unwed pregnancy started to spread among the students like a virus. Because the diocese lists “immorality” as grounds for termination, they fired Reich for being pregnant outside of wedlock.
Reich’s bosses gave her a choice. She could either get married and keep her job or leave the school immediately. Because Reich and her boyfriend did want to get married eventually, they found it shocking that the school was firing her for having a baby although they were in a loving and committed relationship.
Reich misses her students, and also feels like she was the victim of unfair discrimination. But she’s not sure if there is much a teacher like her can do against the Catholic Church.
“I feel like I’m rewriting ‘The Scarlet Letter’ at this point. Just minus the affair,” she told WNEP.
Because Reich felt her termination at the job was unfair, she took her case to court. However, Northumberland County Judge Hugh A. Jones found that Reich failed to meet the first of six requirements to obtain an injunction. According to the Judge, Reich failed to establish that the discriminatory decision caused her “immediate and irreparable harm” that could not be compensated with by damage payments.
While she certainly lost a reliable paycheck because of her decision to have a baby outside of wedlock, Judge Jones felt that Reich had suffered nothing else.
“We are grateful that the court decided to uphold the position of the Diocese of Harrisburg and Our Lady of Lourdes Regional School,” spokesperson Rachel Bryson said.
Meanwhile, Reich’s defense attorney, Timothy A. Bowers, expressed his regret over the judge’s decision.
“Naiad regrets that she won’t be able to return to the classroom to teach the children who mean so much to her. However, Naiad will continue to fight to vindicate herself and women like her who are victims of discrimination by the Catholic church.”
Judge Jones referred to Reich’s employment contract, which included the “morality clause.” Because the Catholic school fired her because of something they found to be immoral, they wrote via a letter that she was fired because she violated “the dignity of the marriage doctrine”. What do you think about the Catholic school’s decision to fire the teacher for getting pregnant outside of wedlock?
