The union came through and was strong when the Department of Education denied my retention rights to a per-session scoring position because I’d missed days due to religious observance.
I had been scoring the English Language Arts state test for eight consecutive years, but in the spring of 2018 the DOE’s Office of Assessment notified me that I no longer had retention rights to the per-session position since I missed a few scoring sessions the previous year and hadn’t fulfilled my obligation.
I was absent because I’m a Sabbath observer and have never come in to work on a Friday evening or a Saturday, and the scoring was scheduled at that time. I decided I wasn’t going to accept their decision. I went to my chapter leader and gathered all of my timesheets, and my district representative helped me file a grievance. My union rep assured me that even if the decision went against me at Step 1, the union was going to take the case further.
But when we went to the Step 1 conference, the Office of Assessment backed off, and my retention rights were restored. I was told to reapply — it was the last day to apply — and I got the per-session position. It was such a relief to have the union behind me.
When I applied this January, they again said I didn’t have retention rights, but before I had to get the union involved I was told by the head of the Office of Assessment to reapply and they would take care of it, which they did. And when I told them I couldn’t make the first day of training this year because it fell on the Sabbath, I was told to just report to the next session.
The UFT was so helpful. All through the ordeal, my district rep kept in constant contact with me to see how things were going. I truly felt I was being supported. Without a union, I never would have gotten my position back. I’ve worked in the private sector, and they don’t care about religious observances. But no one, no matter what religion they observe, should be penalized for religious observance.
Flora Horowitz is a literacy cluster teacher at PS 225 in Brooklyn.
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