Teacher says she was fired for refusing to work in mold-infested classroom

A former Northwest school district teacher who says she was fired for not coming to work after her classroom made her sick filed a lawsuit Friday in federal court.

Autumn Stewart, a former sixth- and seventh-grade social studies teacher at Medlin Middle School, says in her lawsuit that she was assigned to teach in a water-damaged, mold-infected classroom that caused her to suffer from short-term memory loss, confusion, headaches, nausea and near liver failure.

The Northwest school district fired Stewart on April 11, her lawyer, John Judge of Austin, said in a news release.

“Ms. Stewart spoke out when her toxic workplace environment threatened her health, but continued to perform her teaching duties as her health permitted,” Judge said in the release. “Not only did the school refuse to give her a cleaner classroom, school officials accused her of faking her symptoms then fired her for defying an order to return to a building that she knew was contaminated.”

According to the lawsuit, Stewart’s physician diagnosed her with trichothecene mycotoxin poisoning, a condition that can be caused by multiple types of fungi. The physician requested that Stewart be removed from the infected classroom, the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit also states that district officials accused Stewart of faking her symptoms and told her that she was a solid teacher aside from being out sick all the time.

Stewart was moved to another school about the same time she moved with her family to another house, according to the lawsuit. Stewart later discovered there was mold in the new house, and her illness continued, the lawsuit states.

Stewart was terminated after she refused to attend a training session at Northwest High School, which she said smelled like mold, according to the lawsuit.

Kitty Poehler, the school district’s risk manager, told Stewart that she had to re-enter the high school or she would risk losing her job, the lawsuit stated.

District officials declined to comment, saying they had not been notified of a lawsuit. They also would not comment about Stewart’s firing, saying that personnel matters are protected.

This story was originally published March 3, 2017 at 8:50 PM with the headline "Teacher says she was fired for refusing to work in mold-infested classroom."