Georgia Education Lawyer won back the $750 of liquidated damages taken out of 150 DeKalb County School teachers’ contracts. The suit, brought on behalf of two plaintiffs for the loss of $1500.00, ended up having a settlement of $160,000 to pay each of the 150 teachers back their unpaid wages, paid $50,000 in attorney fees, and placed a moratorium of the liquidated damages provision in teacher contracts for the 2017-2018 school year.
The two courageous plaintiffs, Chayka Bettis and Leslie Hein, were members of the Georgia Association of Educators. Williams Oinonen LLC partner Julie Oinonen stated that “we filed the lawsuit hoping to establish a state-wide precedent for all Georgia educators. We hope that DeKalb will uphold the moratorium and other school districts will follow their lead.”