Arbitrator awards teacher back pay

Friday, Jan. 31, 2003 | 11:19 a.m.

After an eight-year legal battle with the Clark County School District over her job status, a teacher has been awarded $82,000 in back pay and benefits by an arbitrator, her attorney said this morning.

The teacher, Janet Kallsen-Bisceglia, saw her 16-year seniority with the district improperly wiped out after she took an unpaid leave of absence in 1994, Las Vegas attorney Grenville Pridham said.

Kallsen-Bisceglia was supposed to return to work the following year and retain her seniority, Pridham said. Instead, she was given a substitute teaching position with no benefits and a steep drop in salary, Pridham said.

Kallsen-Bisceglia, who now teaches at Garside Middle School and has been back full-time since 1997, declined this morning to comment.

Bill Hoffman, counsel for the district, said Kallsen-Bisceglia was not immediately rehired because there was no job available for which she was qualified. The district intends to appeal the arbitrator's ruling, Hoffman said.

"Our contracts for teachers say you have the right to go on unpaid leave, but you don't have the right to come back and demand a job you don't have the credentials to perform," Hoffman said.