Fired Pregnant Teacher Sues Catholic School For Discrimination

A teacher who claims she was fired from her job at a Catholic school because she was pregnant and unmarried is reportedly suing the Montana Catholic school district for wrongful termination.

Shaela Evenson filed her lawsuit this week against the Butte Central Catholic Schools in Montana, alleging that the school violated federal and state regulations on discrimination towards pregnancy when it fired her from her position as an English teacher back in January.

In the lawsuit, Evenson argues that the school violated her employment contract and also discriminated against her because she is female. When the school terminated Evenson's employment, it said she had violated the tenants of her contract, which require her to live a lifestyle in line with the Catholic Church. Evenson argues in the lawsuit, however, that the school district did not monitor the lifestyles of male or married female teachers, and therefore she was discriminated against.

The plaintiff in the federal lawsuit is seeking back pay, compensatory and punitive damages. Evenson is requesting a jury trial, as her lawyer, Brian Butler, previously won a different client $170,000 in a similar trial in Ohio.

At the time of her firing, Superintendent Patrick Haggarty had said Evenson "'made a willful decision to violate the terms of her contract." Evenson had received artificial insemination, and she and her same-sex partner welcomed their son back in March.

"The Catholic moral teaching is that the sacrament of marriage is a holy union between a man and a woman,' Haggarty previously said. "And we certainly believe and we teach our children who attend our schools about the sacrament of marriage […] That's as old as our church."

"Not only do we teach that to the children kindergarten through 12th grade, but we're held to that standard as well."