Lyons v. Chittenden Cent. Supervisory Union

Decision Date16 March 2018
Docket NumberNo. 2016-036,2016-036
Citation2018 VT 26
CourtVermont Supreme Court
PartiesCatherine Lyons v. Chittenden Central Supervisory Union

NOTICE: This opinion is subject to motions for reargument under V.R.A.P. 40 as well as formal revision before publication in the Vermont Reports. Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions by email at: JUD.Reporter@vermont.gov or by mail at: Vermont Supreme Court, 109 State Street, Montpelier, Vermont 05609-0801, of any errors in order that corrections may be made before this opinion goes to press.

On Appeal from Commissioner of Labor

Anne M. Noonan, Commissioner

Kevin E. Brown and Michele B. Patton of Langrock Sperry & Wool, LLP, Middlebury, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Jason R. Ferreira and Robert G. Reagan of McCormick, Fitzpatrick, Kasper & Burchard, P.C., Burlington, for Defendant-Appellee.

PRESENT: Reiber, C.J., Dooley, Skoglund, Robinson and Eaton, JJ.

¶ 1. DOOLEY, J. Claimant Catherine Lyons appeals a summary judgment decision by the Department of Labor Commissioner (the Commissioner) finding that she did not qualify for workers' compensation benefits for an injury sustained while student teaching at a school in the defendant supervisory union. Because we hold that claimant falls within the statutory definition of an employee for purposes of workers' compensation, we reverse and remand for further proceedings in accord with this opinion.

¶ 2. The relevant facts are undisputed. Claimant has a master's degree in early childhood education and taught for six years in New Hampshire. In 2013, she decided to pursue an elementary education teaching license in Vermont. Vermont Agency of Education (AOE) regulations require three basic components for licensure as a teacher: first, the applicant must hold a bachelor's degree in either the liberal arts and sciences or in the area that they will teach; second, they must provide proof of student teaching; and third, the applicant must demonstrate competency in ten specified areas.1 Vermont Agency of Education, Licensing of Educators and the Preparation of Educational Professionals §§ 5231, 5233, 5235, Code of Vt. Rules 22 000 010, http://www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/michie/. Licensing regulations at the time plaintiff sought licensure required the applicant to complete twelve weeks of student teaching, defined as "supervised, concentrated field experience . . . including an internship, or other concentrated field experience however named, in which the candidate shall gradually assume the full professional roles and responsibilities of an educator." Id. § 5233.12; id. § 5150. To satisfy competency and student teaching requirements, claimant enrolled in a two-semester program at the Upper Valley Educators Institute (UVEI) that prepares enrollees for licensure through classroom placement and seminar-based competency instruction.

¶ 3. UVEI's teacher program handbook refers to its trainees as interns; an intern is "a professional with prior experience who is developing his or her talents to become a teacher." Each intern is placed in two different classrooms during the UVEI program, one during the program's fall semester and a second during the spring semester. The intern works with a different mentor-teacher in each classroom, who invites the intern "into the classroom to learn—and begin to practice—the craft of teaching." Interns are placed in the classroom four days each week; on thefifth day, they are required to attend seminars at the UVEI campus. These seminars address the competency requirement for licensure. Total tuition for the program is $15,000; enrollees also pay a $250 fee for UVEI to help them locate placement classrooms.

¶ 4. As an agency-approved educator preparation program, UVEI must comply with AOE regulations governing the way license applicants are placed in student teaching positions. Specifically, student teachers must be placed with a licensed educator who has been trained by the educator preparation program in the methods and strategies taught in the program. Student teaching expectations and the placement process must be included in a handbook, and a written agreement with the placement school must be executed that lists each party's responsibilities. Id. § 5924.3. Pursuant to these regulations, UVEI distributed a Teacher Internship Program Handbook that outlined intern and mentor-teacher responsibilities, and had all placement participants—including the intern, mentor-teacher, placement site representative, and a UVEI-assigned faculty coach—sign a placement contract.

¶ 5. Upon enrolling in UVEI's teacher internship program, claimant contacted a kindergarten teacher for whom she had previously substitute taught at one of Chittenden Central Supervisory Union's (CCSU) schools. Claimant and the kindergarten teacher agreed that claimant could complete her first student teaching semester in the teacher's classroom if claimant met the application requirements imposed by CCSU.

¶ 6. In a procedure that mimics most job searches, CCSU requires trainee teachers, such as claimant, to submit an application for student teaching on a standard form.3 Applicants mustlist their education and experience, answer a series of questions concerning past criminal activity, and write a one-page essay describing their reasons for wanting to teach and commitment to or experience working with children and young people. This application is submitted directly to the principal of the school where a trainee teacher seeks placement and the school then interviews those applicants it is interested in placing. According to the CCSU student teacher application process, "the purpose of the [interview] is to ensure the placement will result in a good match between [the applicant], the school, and the cooperating teacher, which is necessary to increase [the applicant's] chances for success." Supervisory union human resources personnel are not involved in the interview or placement process; instead the selection of student teacher applicants is left to the school principal and classroom teacher.

¶ 7. We find it important to note that claimant's position is named and described in different ways in the record. The Commissioner found that defendant considered claimant to be a preservice teacher, a term that includes interns, student teachers, and post-baccalaureates. The policy on which the Commissioner relied refers to claimant's position as a student teacher and her activities as student teaching. Claimant submitted an application for student teaching pursuant to a Student Teacher Application Process. At one point, the application states: "If hired prior to the completion of the background check process, continued employment would be contingent upon satisfactory background check results."

¶ 8. As we noted above, the UVEI Teacher Program Handbook defines claimant as an intern. It goes on to say that "[a]n intern has more responsibility, more independence, and more self-direction than most students." The handbook in a number of places describes the intern as working. As an example, the handbook states interns "work with small groups of students, instruct classes, handle crises, and otherwise function as real teachers."

¶ 9. After passing through CCSU's application and screening process, claimant, her mentor-teacher, the placement school principal, and claimant's UVEI faculty coach signed aplacement contract agreeing to the terms outlined in UVEI's program handbook. The handbook lists the responsibilities of both the UVEI intern and the mentor-teacher; specifically, it requires the intern to work the same hours as their mentor-teacher, to attend staff and planning meetings, as well as in-service days and school activities. Each intern's classroom responsibilities are meant to increase over time, culminating in a one-to-two-week period of solo teaching in the classroom. While interning at her placement school, claimant had a CCSU identification badge and email address, access to confidential student files, and keys to both the school and her mentor-teacher's classroom. However, in agreement with the guidelines in UVEI's program handbook, claimant was not permitted to write any reports or documents that would become part of a student's official record.

¶ 10. Claimant injured her back, hip, and leg in a workplace slip and fall accident not long after she began her teaching internship. She filed a workers' compensation claim, which the defendant's insurer contested. Claimant appealed the denial of her claim to the Department of Labor, and the parties filed cross motions for summary judgment on the sole question of whether claimant qualified as an employee under the relevant statutory definition. Neither party disputed that CCSU falls within the statutory definition of an employer for purposes of workers' compensation nor that claimant's injury, if she could be considered an employee, occurred accidentally during the normal course of her employment.

¶ 11. The Commissioner issued a written decision granting defendant summary judgment and dismissing claimant's claim for workers' compensation benefits. The Commissioner's decision turned on the undisputed fact that claimant did not receive monetary wages for her work at the defendant supervisory union. The Commissioner found that, though the tripartite agreement between claimant, defendant, and UVEI bore many of the hallmarks of an employment contract, "absent actual or expected payment of some form of remuneration by employer to employee, an employment relationship does not exist, and workers' compensation coverage does not attach."According to the Commissioner, limiting workers' compensation benefits to paid employees implements the statute's underlying "assumption that a worker is gainfully employed at the time of his or her injury" as well as the practical difficulty of monetizing compensation for a worker who is not receiving financial payment. This appeal followed.

¶ 12. We review summary judgment...

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7 cases
  • Wool v. Office of Prof'l Regulation
    • United States
    • Vermont Supreme Court
    • June 12, 2020
    ...of broader statutory scheme addressing same subject matter, "we must consider the statutory scheme as a whole"); Lyons v. Chittenden Cent. Supervisory Union, 2018 VT 26, ¶ 13, 207 Vt. 59, 185 A.3d 551 ("Our task is to ensure that a statute's enacting purpose is given effect, and we do so by......
  • West v. N. Branch Fire Dist. #1
    • United States
    • Vermont Supreme Court
    • June 18, 2021
    ...employed. ¶ 13. We review summary judgment decisions de novo, applying the same standard as the trial court. Lyons v. Chittenden Cent. Supervisory Union, 2018 VT 26, ¶ 12, 207 Vt. 59, 185 A.3d 551. Summary judgment will be granted "if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to ......
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    • Vermont Supreme Court
    • September 3, 2021
    ... ... 624, 230 A.3d 620; see also Lyons ... v. Chittenden Cent. Supervisory Union , 2018 VT ... ...
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    • Vermont Supreme Court
    • March 8, 2019
    ...rather than an intent to protect members of the public in their capacity as residents of licensed facilities. See Lyons v. Chittenden Cent. Supervisory Union, 2018 VT 26, ¶ 13, ___ Vt. ___, 185 A.3d 551 (explaining that to extent possible, we interpret statute as unified whole). ¶ 25. We th......
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