Governor Andy Beshear announced Tuesday afternoon he has reversed former Governor Matt Bevin’s decision that teachers violated state law when participating in “sickouts”.
According to Beshear’s office, the “sickouts” were in protest to anti-education policies and following an investigation, last year by the former Labor Cabinet nearly 1,000 teachers were wrongly accused of violating state labor laws. Each of those teachers were threatened with civil penalties up to $1,000 per violation.
A letter sent Monday from Labor Cabinet Secretary Larry Roberts to the cabinet’s inspector general states the former secretary’s conclusion was contrary to the law since there was no “strike” or “work stoppage” under KRS 336.130(1). The letter goes on to say teachers were exercising constitutional rights to speech, petition, and assembly and not engaged in a dispute with their employers concerning the terms of their employment.
