LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A teacher has filed a lawsuit against the Clark County School District after she says she was punched multiple times while pregnant.
According to documents obtained by Channel 13, Sydne Yanez told officials with CCSD that she was pregnant in August 2023.
She says her pregnancy was deemed "high risk" in certain respects and asked for accommodations.
At the time, Yanez worked as a special education teacher, which required her to work with students who "have severe behavior problems, sometimes violent behavioral problems" in many cases.
You can read the full lawsuit here:
Teacher sues CCSD, saying she was punched in the stomach while pregnant by yolanda.cruz on Scribd
First on Aug. 7 and again two weeks later, Yanez says she was punched multiple times in the stomach by a student. After the first incident, Yanez said she called the student's parent, who refused to come pick up the child. This led Yanez to file a report with CCSD police.
After the first two incidents, Yanez said she asked that either the student be removed from her classroom or she be reassigned to "a workspace where she would not face being assaulted and possible harm to herself and her unborn child."
Court documents say both of these requests were denied.
Incidents continued, Yanez said, with a separate student scratching and/or biting her in September of that year and the first student again punching her in the stomach in an October incident.
Yanez says in the lawsuit that a CCSD administrator saw the October incident take place but did nothing. She also says that the administrator filed a report stating nothing had occurred and the student had no behavior problems.
These incidents led Yanez to take a leave of absence, which she says led to damages to her reputation, economic hardship and emotional distress.
Yanez said these actions violated the Nevada Pregnant Workers Fairness Act and is now seeking to bring CCSD before a jury.
Channel 13 has reached out to CCSD for comment, but a representative responded that the district does not comment on pending litigation.
