Teacher: I Was Fired for 'Fornication'

Florida teacher booted for getting pregnant before wedding
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 9, 2010 11:49 AM CDT
Teacher: I Was Fired for 'Fornication'
Jarrestta Hamilton says she was fired for getting pregnant before getting hitched.   (Shutterstock)

A Florida teacher is suing the Christian school where she worked until recently, saying they fired her because she got pregnant just before her wedding. Fourth-grade teacher Jarrestta Hamilton says that when she asked her school for maternity leave last April, she admitted that she’d conceived the baby three weeks before her wedding. A week later, the school dismissed her, sending her a letter citing “fornication”—sex outside of marriage—as the rationale.

The school is saying that Hamilton knew she’d be held to a high moral code when she took the job. But her lawyer says there was nothing about that in the school’s policies. “Just a vague reference to upholding standards,” he tells Fox News. “That’s what they’re going on as a ‘morals’ clause.” He says the school discriminated against Hamilton based on marital status, and violated her privacy by telling students why she was fired. (More teacher stories.)

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