{"id":15698,"date":"2025-03-10T13:28:17","date_gmt":"2025-03-10T14:28:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=15698"},"modified":"2025-03-10T15:11:05","modified_gmt":"2025-03-10T15:11:05","slug":"teacher-secures-favorable-settlement-following-religious-liberty-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=15698","title":{"rendered":"Teacher Secures Favorable Settlement Following Religious Liberty Lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This post originally appeared at <a href=\"https:\/\/will-law.org\/teacher-secures-favorable-settlement-following-religious-liberty-lawsuit\/\">https:\/\/will-law.org\/teacher-secures-favorable-settlement-following-religious-liberty-lawsuit\/<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"et_pb_section et_pb_section_0 et_section_regular\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_row et_pb_row_0\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_column et_pb_column_3_4 et_pb_column_0  et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_module et_pb_text et_pb_text_0  et_pb_text_align_left et_pb_bg_layout_light\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\">\n<h4><em>WILL Defended A Public School Teacher Who Was Fired for Refusing to Abandon His Religious Beliefs<\/em><\/h4>\n<p>The News: The Wisconsin Institute for Law &amp; Liberty (WILL) announces that the Argyle School District has agreed to pay $20,000 to resolve our lawsuit on behalf of our client, Jordan Cernek. Our lawsuit alleged a violation of his right to the free exercise of his religion and a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In May of 2023, the District decided not to renew Mr. Cernek\u2019s teaching contract after he opposed a requirement that all staff use the preferred names and pronouns of transgender students, effectively firing him from his job. The agreement we reached with the school district ends further legal proceedings.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"et_pb_module et_pb_video et_pb_video_0\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_video_box\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Wisconsin Teacher Takes Stand for Religious Liberty\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PrebH8sHp5Y?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"et_pb_module et_pb_text et_pb_text_1  et_pb_text_align_left et_pb_bg_layout_light\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\">\n<p>The Quotes: WILL Deputy Counsel, Luke Berg, said, \u201cWe have been pleased to represent Mr. Cernek and members of the education community just like him. School districts have a duty to reasonably accommodate their employees\u2019 religious beliefs, and Mr. Cernek\u2019s willingness to stand up for his religious beliefs is admirable.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>WILL Associate Counsel, Nathalie Burmeister, stated, \u201cFreedom of religion is a core liberty that our nation and state were founded upon. Jordan\u2019s victory is critical to advancing the cause of religious freedom across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>WILL Client Jordan Cernek stated, \u201cThe district tried to force me to betray my religious convictions and commitment to God. I am grateful that there was some resolution to this matter and will continue to encourage teachers to stand up for their beliefs.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Additional Background:\u00a0 In July of 2024, WILL filed a lawsuit against the Argyle School District on behalf of a locally renowned and respected educator, Jordan Cernek. Mr. Cernek opposed a District requirement that all staff members use the preferred names and pronouns of transgender students.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>To avoid acting contrary to his religious convictions, Mr. Cernek made the District aware of his religious objection to this requirement and agreed not to use any names when referring to students. But ultimately, the District warned him that refusing to refer to students by preferred names and pronouns would result in disciplinary action up to and including termination.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Six months later, the District kept its promise and did not renew Mr. Cernek\u2019s teaching contract. Mr. Cernek then filed a lawsuit alleging that the District\u2019s dismissal violated the First Amendment, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and Article I, Section 18 of the Wisconsin Constitution. After the lawsuit was filed, the parties reached an agreement to resolve the case, and this has enabled Mr. Cernek to receive compensation for refusing to violate his sincerely held religious beliefs.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"et_pb_column et_pb_column_1_4 et_pb_column_1  et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough et-last-child\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_module et_pb_team_member et_pb_team_member_0 clearfix  et_pb_text_align_center et_pb_bg_layout_light\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_team_member_image et-waypoint et_pb_animation_off\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"617\" height=\"980\" src=\"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/WILL_Luke_Color_001_WEB_980x617_100ppi_Sharpened.jpg\" alt=\"Luke Berg\" class=\"wp-image-9283\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"et_pb_team_member_description\">\n<h4 class=\"et_pb_module_header\">Luke Berg<\/h4>\n<p class=\"et_pb_member_position\">Deputy Counsel<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Luke@will-law.org<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"et_pb_module et_pb_team_member et_pb_team_member_1 clearfix  et_pb_text_align_center et_pb_bg_layout_light\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_team_member_image et-waypoint et_pb_animation_off\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"617\" height=\"980\" src=\"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Nathalie-WILL-pic.png\" alt=\"NATHALIE BURMEISTER\" class=\"wp-image-30894\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"et_pb_team_member_description\">\n<h4 class=\"et_pb_module_header\">NATHALIE BURMEISTER<\/h4>\n<p class=\"et_pb_member_position\">Associate Counsel<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/will-law.org\/teacher-secures-favorable-settlement-following-religious-liberty-lawsuit\/\">Teacher Secures Favorable Settlement Following Religious Liberty Lawsuit<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/will-law.org\">Wisconsin Institute for Law &amp; Liberty<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This post originally appeared at https:\/\/will-law.org\/teacher-secures-favorable-settlement-following-religious-liberty-lawsuit\/ WILL Defended A Public School Teacher Who Was Fired&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":262,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-will"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15698"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15701,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15698\/revisions\/15701"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}