An Indiana County teacher's aide has permanently ensured her right to wear a cross necklace to work after recently reaching a settlement, lawyers said Thursday.
Brenda Nichol, 43, of Grant Township, and her lawyers from the American Center for Law and Justice recently reached a settlement with her employer, the Armstrong-Indiana Intermediate Unit 28, or ARIN.
Nichol sued ARIN after it suspended her in April for wearing the small gold cross pendant around her neck. ARIN's employee handbook took the state law, which prohibits only teachers from wearing religious garb to school, and applied it to all of the employees at the unit.
ARIN told Nichol to remove the cross or hide it underneath her clothing. Nichol refused several times, saying to do so would be to deny Jesus, the lawsuit said.
U.S. District Court Judge Arthur Schwab granted a preliminary injunction to Nichol in June, citing the probability that Nichol would win her case. She was then permitted to return to work at Penns Manor Elementary School.
It was after Schwab's ruling that ARIN officials began to realize that the judge did not feel favorably toward the intermediate unit.
"It was clear when the judge granted the preliminary injunction" that ARIN would probably lose, said Executive Director Robert H. Coad Jr. "We were willing to settle."
Schwab said ARIN's policy displayed "hostility toward religion" and violated the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.
The settlement also said ARIN must remove any reference of the incident from Nichol's employment record, that Nichol should remain at Penns Manor and that ARIN should make a change to its handbook.
Coad confirmed that any reference to religious garb has been removed from the employee guide.
Nichol's attorney, Vincent McCarthy, said his client was satisfied with the agreement.
"She's very pleased. It's a very quick turnaround for this case," McCarthy said. He said he felt confident things would go their way after Schwab's June ruling.
"The judge wasn't going to go back on his ruling," McCarthy said. "Pretty much that's true in any case. That's what you're going to get for the rest of the (proceedings)."
The center specializes in constitutional law and religious liberty work and was founded by Pat Robertson.
Nichol's pay was suspended from April to June, and she will receive back pay. She never lost benefits during her suspension.
Nichol was unavailable for comment.
