Im trying to find out if I have a case for wrongful termination.

A year ago in July I was falsely accused of a felony crime which went to court an was dropped. In Aug after learing about my arrest my principal calld me for a meeting to ask what had happened. At the time I told him the whole story an how the charges were dropped do to being false. At that time I was placed on administrative leave. A week later I had another meeting with the principal an a district representative, in which I was asked to either resign or be terminated. I chose not to resign because of what I felt was wrong. The reasons stated for my termination on the paper were unable to perform my job duties.. Now I've never had any prior write ups or incidents to support this claim. All this has extended from my being arrested, in which some students supposedly found out. The reasons that the principal stated on the termination letter was different from what he was actually saying. He also has put incidents of non relevance an the incident from my being arrested, which again was dropped, on that letter.
Now I fought the termination to the district level appeal an lost. When I arrived in the appeal office the judge was laughing an having a good time reminsing about old times with the principal.. SO I knew at that point I had no chance.
SO at this point I filed for unemployment benefits, an that was being challenged by the district. My initial claim was denied an again I filed for a appeal in which was a telephone hearing with a judge. The judge found that the termination was not something I caused an awarded me the benefits..
SO now my question is do I have a wrongful termination case? The judge from unemployment found that my termination was something I caused to happen due to lack of job performance.
Any suggestions or insight??

You may have a case. Are you tenured? If so then I find it hard to believe they let you go over false charges. Your best bet probably is to hire an attorney, file suit and then negotiate a settlement with them, to serve as kind of a "severance package." Understand that you may have difficulty finding other employment in the teaching field.

Were you a teacher? Were you a member of a union? We need more details about the type of job.

Yes I am a teacher an was part of the union for 3 years. (just alil insight I went to this hs an so have my younger bros.)I had our union rep with me threw all the process. He said that if they could fit it into there category of not being able to perform my duties, because the district policy was so broad.. But does my appeal for unemployment mean I have a legit case?
Also I haven't experienced difficulty finding another teaching job but, after I explain what happened an showed the documents proving me to be wrongfully terminated they all have agreed..
Anything further you may need to know to help please ask..

Also I have had some people say they may settle out of court to avoid legal publicity, an for the fact I won an appeal with unemployment.

Hello clos:

If your UNION won't back you, then I doubt a judge will. Clearly, a violation of the UNION contract would be EASY to prove... IF the UNION doesn't think they violated your UNION contract, then I'm certain the state won't think they violated the law.

The fact that you won the appeal doesn't indicate ANYTHING, in my view. Unemployment is INSURANCE that YOU pay for. In fact, it's slanted towards YOU. If there's a toss up, YOU win, and you did.

In a lawsuit, if there's a toss up, YOU lose.

excon

PS> What do you teach and to whom do you teach it?

If you've been at your school for 3 years you should have acquired tenure. Either that or you were terminated in your tenure year so that your school district wouldn't have to give you tenure and this is not an uncommon tactic. Also, nepotism isn't all that uncommon when it comes to awarding positions in public education. However, in that case you should have been a shoe-in to receive tenure after putting in your time. Unfortunately the teacher's "union" isn't as powerful as the general public seems to think. Due to political and other ramifications they are often reluctant to back up their members even when they are being treated unprofessionally and/or unethically. When all is said and done, like I said to you in my earlier response, your best bet may be to hire an attorney, initiate legal proceedings for wrongful termination, gather as much evidence as you can, then negotiate an out-of-court settlement. Most public school districts are very concerned about their reputation and don't necessarily want their "dirty laundry" aired publicly in court proceedings, even if the letter of the law appears to be on their side. Also it would cost them a lot of money in legal fees to fight your case. In economic times such as these public budgets come under particularly tight scrutiny and it may be difficult for them to answer for spending a large amount of money on legal fees for a case that could be easily settled in private. Of course you'll have to be prepared to come up with an initial chunk of cash to pay an attorney a retainer fee. Also the attorney will take a portion of the settlement. But this is probably your most feasible course of action.

I have to agree with excon here. This is one of the reasons you have a union. They should have protested this.

As soon as the charges were dropped the district should have backed off. That they the union didn't stop it, doesn't speak well for your ability to win your case.

On the other hand, such suits are normally settled to avoid publicity and extended legal costs. So go interview some lawyers and see if one will take your case. The initial interview shouldn't cost you anything, and any attorney would probably take the case on a contingency.

Thanks for all the answers an insight.. very much appreciated..