A teacher at a Catholic school won a $170,000 lawsuit against an Ohio archdiocese that fired her for opting for artificial insemination.
Christa Dias, a computer teacher at two Catholic Ohio schools, was terminated in Oct. 2010 for violating the rules of the Catholic Church, which frown upon artificial insemination.
A non-Catholic Dias testified that she was not aware of such Church rules. She said she thought that the clause in the agreement that she signed meant she should be a good Christian and read the Bible. Dias filed the lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati and its two schools.
The jury at the U.S. District Court said the archdiocese were unjust for firing her and ordered them to compensate with $71,000 as lost pay and emotional damages and $100,000 as punitive damages. But it did not find the schools liable for the damages.
Dias told the Associated Press that she was "very happy and relieved." Her attorney, Robert Klingler, argued that Dias was fired because she was pregnant before marriage. He said that such an act violated the federal law. He demanded a compensation of $637,000 from the church and the schools, but the former teacher said she was satisfied with the court's decision.
"It was never about the money," Dias said. "They should have followed the law and they didn't."
However, Steven Goodin, the attorney for the archdiocese and the schools, maintained that the teacher was fired for breaking the contract terms and not for going against the Church's philosophies and teachings. For the church, artificial insemination is immoral and infringes the church doctrine. "We have always argued that this case was about a contract violation and should never have been allowed to come to trial," Goodin said after the court's decision.
This is the second lawsuit filed against the archdiocese in two years for removing unmarried pregnant employees. The case raises a serious question on the religious organizations that often control the lives of their employees.
Dias said she filed lawsuit "for the sake of other women and my daughter's sake, so she knows it's important to stand up for what's right."
