Cathy Samford was fired from the (Baptist) Heritage Christian Academy of Rockwall, Texas for being very pregnant and not married because, as a religious minister of the school, her employment contract required moral behavior as a "Christian role model."
For background, CLICK HERE to read of the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that religious organizations are NOT bound by certain federal employment regulations regarding ministers, and also CLICK HERE to read of another unmarried pregnant Christian teacher who lost a similar lawsuit.
-- From "School says teacher broke 'morals' clause in her contract" posted at ABC-TV2 (Baltimore, MD) 4/11/12
Cathy Samford is 39-weeks pregnant and teaches at Heritage Christian Academy outside of Dallas. She had been coaching at volleyball at the private Baptist school and had even been named "Coach of the Year."
But the school let her go because of the it is written in her contract that she can not violate what is called a "morals" clause. School leaders told ABC affiliate, WFAA-TV, that she was not leading an example as a "Christian role model".
Samford has hired a lawyer and is considering legal action.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Cathy Samford, Texas Teacher, Fired For Out-Of-Wedlock Pregnancy" by Laura Hibbard, The Huffington Post 4/12/12
In a recent interview with ABC News, Samford said she and her fiance had been planning to get married, though complications forced the wedding to be delayed.
After becoming aware of her pregnancy, Samford approached school officials about missing part of the upcoming volleyball season. It was then that, according to Samford, the school responded by telling her she would be terminated.
"I was in shock and devastated and that's when I said, 'If this is the problem, I'm willing, and so is my fiancé, to go ahead and get married,'" Samford told ABC News. "That wasn't the issue. We were going to get married regardless."
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Pregnant Texas Teacher Fired From Christian School for Being Unmarried" by Stoyan Zaimov, Christian Post Reporter 4/12/12
Samford has also said she will file a lawsuit against the school, citing gender and pregnancy discrimination with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Her lawyer, Colin Walsh, said it was against both state and federal law to fire someone preventatively for taking a pregnancy leave.
Dr. Ron Taylor, the school's headmaster, admitted that the decision to fire the pregnant teacher was not an easy one, but had to be done to preserve the morals that the Christian institution upholds.
"Everything that we stand for says that we want our teachers, who we consider to be in the ministry, to model what a Christian man or woman should be," he added. "How's it going to look to a little fourth grade girl that sees she's pregnant and she's not married?"
The teacher hopes to be reinstated or at least receive some kind of compensation for her termination
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
