California teacher wins $12,000 in case against union for BIPOC-only board seat

(The Center Square) – A California teacher won $12,000 against his teachers’ union for its “BIPOC At-Large” executive board seat in which candidates were required to “self-identify” as a racial minority to qualify for, saying he plans on using the proceeds to create a scholarship for local students.

“I’m delighted that my lawsuit forced union officials to admit something every high school student knows: Racial segregation is wrong,” said Elk Grove Unified School District history teacher Isaac Newman in a statement. “I plan to donate every penny I receive from the union to a local scholarship fund for Elk Grove students.”

The Elk Grove Education Association, a teachers’ union in the Sacramento area, created a “BIPOC At-Large” seat in 2023 with a nomination form requiring self-identification as black, Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, Latino, Asian, Arab, or Middle Eastern. Newman, who is white, said he could not in good conscience claim identification with one of the required groups. 

Newman’s filing stated being barred from running for the position runs afoul of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which bans for labor organizations to “discriminate against… any individual because of his race, color, religion, sex, or national origin,” and California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act, which bans discrimination “against any person because of… race… in the election of officers of the labor organization.”

Soon after Newman filed the case, the union desegregated the board seat and committed to non-discrimination for its positions. 

“Based on union officials’ immediate capitulation to Isaac’s demands, it’s clear that they thought they didn’t have a legal leg to stand on to defend their segregated board seat,” said Nathan McGrath, president and general counsel for the Fairness Center, a legal nonprofit that focuses on cases involving public sector unions and represented Newman, in a statement.

California’s two laws setting racial, ethnic, and sexual identity quotas, and female quotas for corporate boards were recently found illegal for violating the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protections clause. A 2023 U.S. Supreme Court rulingstruck down affirmative action, by which race is used as a factor in college admissions, also citing the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protections clause.