After a two-week jury trial in Cheyenne, the Plaintiffs were awarded a total of $160,000, which represented all of their lost salary and additional general damages. In addition, the Court will add an attorneys’ fee award to the verdict. The legal argument was based on the concept that it violates the equal protection guarantees of the Constitution to arbitrarily discriminate against employees for reasons which do not have any rational relationship to success in the workplace. Roberts and Hitt both had extensive backgrounds in education and very good evaluations. The constitutional principle applies not only to discrimination on the basis of private life, but to other forms of discrimination.

The case was just the latest legal case brought on behalf of members. WEA members individually and collectively have benefited from a number of recent legal activities:

1. The salary increases experienced by members this fall have their source in the WEA’s participation in the school finance litigation. The recent "recalibration" by the legislature which led to substantial increases in funding is the direct result of court rulings obtained by WEA. "Recalibration" occurs because the Wyoming Supreme Court agreed with WEA in ruling that the financing formula must be kept current for inflation every two years and entirely re-evaluated every five years.

2. A federal case on behalf of an older teacher who was forced out under a reduction in force policy was successfully settled. The district had undertaken to eliminate an older, longtime teacher while hiring a new teacher in a vacant position for which the older teacher was qualified. In addition to the issue of age discrimination, the case dealt with the practice of reviewing personnel lists in closed executive session, and then voting in public session only by reference to the list.

3. WEA also was able to reach a successful settlement on behalf of a Natrona County teacher who suffered retaliation after she made a complaint of sexual harassment. While the teacher was not directly fired, she contended that building administrators had deliberately attempted to make life miserable so that she would go elsewhere. She left the district successfully contending that what is known as a "constructive discharge" occurred. A constructive discharge is a situation where an employer forces an employee out of employment without formally discharging the employee.

4. In the Casper case, the court ruled that when districts hire outside law firms to conduct factual "investigations" of personnel issues, the reports are not protected by the attorney-client privilege and must be made available to the employee.

5. WEA is continuously involved in a variety of other legal issues on behalf of members. Those issues include protections for school counselors and nurses under the continuing contract law, enforceability of coaches’ contracts, employee leave for family medical emergencies, reasonable accommodations for employees with disabilities issues, workplace rights of ESP employees, enforcing bargained agreements, and many others.