A Georgia school district could not invoke qualified immunity in response to allegations that it refused to make changes pursuant to a racial discrimination settlement with a former faculty member, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held Wednesday.
The plaintiff in Foster v. Echols County School District claimed multiple instances of race-based discrimination, leading to two separate settlements in 2011 and 2020. As part of the latter, the district agreed to amend its recruitment and hiring practices, make those practices publicly available and develop a plan to recruit more Black applicants to vacant positions, among other terms.
Approximately one year after the agreement had been signed, the plaintiff sued, alleging that the district violated federal and state civil rights laws by falling short of the agreement. The district attempted to invoke a “qualified immunity” defense, but a district court rejected this theory and the 11th Circuit upheld on appeal.
