After 24 years as a special education teacher, Abraham Freud was struggling to do his job.
In 2021, Freud began experiencing back problems and was later diagnosed with severe scoliosis, kyphosis, degenerative disc disease, and other conditions. The health issues made it challenging for him to work with students at Fort Greene’s P.S. K369, a District 75 school for students with special needs where Freud has taught since 2009. The situation became especially difficult at the start of the school year in September.
Returning from a sabbatical and remote teaching, Freud was assigned to a class of very young students with emotional and developmental issues and severe autism. Some required assistance using the bathroom, while others would throw themselves on the floor.
Adding to the challenges, the school building has no elevators, requiring Freud to walk up and down stairs to reach his classes. Some students also needed his assistance navigating the stairs. Freud said there was a point when he could no longer manage the climb.
As his condition worsened, he requested accommodation. But Freud claims he got little help.
“The only thing that my principal said she could do for me was give me a delayed start time, which also delayed the end of my day,” Freud told Brooklyn Paper. “My [assistant principal] said he never heard of anyone getting a late start accommodation. He deliberately assigned me to some 8:1:1 classes that were short-staffed. In that class, there were four students requiring a 1:1 para in addition to a classroom para. That means the kids are very high-needs. Despite their IEPs requiring one-to-one [paraprofessionals], there would only be two paras in total. So I was short-staffed and had high-needs children.”
Anticipating challenges in the upcoming school year, Freud sought help from attorney Christina Martinez last summer to request accommodations. Martinez also asked the Department of Education to reassign Freud to a less physically demanding role, such as an attendance teacher, a position focused on improving student attendance.
Although some of those positions were available, Freud and Martinez said they spent months trying to secure a reassignment without success. Emails included as evidence in the case show Freud repeatedly following up with the DOE about the roles but receiving no response.
“I have never seen an employer respond in this way,” Martinez said. “They have to consider reassignment, and they flat-out refuse to do that, even though there were open, vacant positions. So that’s kind of where the whole accommodation process went with them, just saying, listen, ‘he could apply on his own, but we can’t reassign him,’ and they forced him to continue working in the classroom environment.”
Disability rights are protected by federal, state, and city laws. The Americans with Disabilities Act defines a reasonable workplace accommodation as one that “allows a person with a disability who is qualified for the job to perform the essential functions of that job and enjoy equal employment opportunities.” The New York State Department of Labor echoes this, noting that “An agency is not required to make an accommodation if it can demonstrate that providing the accommodation would impose an undue hardship, or ‘significant difficulty or expense’ on its everyday operations.”
The city’s Department of Citywide Administrative Services’ Reasonable Accommodation Procedural Guidelines define reassignment as a “reasonable accommodation of last resort.” Other examples include modifying work schedules, providing assistive devices, making facilities accessible, and extending leave or offering temporary transfers.
By the end of October, Freud’s orthopedist warned that his job at P.S. K369 had worsened his back to the point where it could cause long-term damage. The doctor provided a note to the DOE explaining Freud’s deteriorating health and advised against his return to work. Meanwhile, the department required Freud to undergo a medical examination with its own doctor. Freud also submitted a Functional Capacity Evaluation report indicating he could return to work with accommodations, but the results were not what he expected.
“The DOE doctor found me unfit to work,” Freud said. “Then, because of this ‘unfit’ designation, the DOE put a problem code on my file, which they say puts a hiring freeze on me. So, they will not place me in the vacant positions I applied for. Basically, I am stuck in this bureaucratic nightmare where everyone refuses to help me, and they insist the only option is to throw me away like trash.”
A problem code alerts the Office of Personnel Investigation, which is responsible for background checks and investigations and can place an individual on a hiring freeze. Court documents show that a DOE medical evaluation in early December recommended a leave of absence.
During this time, Freud alleges that the United Federation of Teachers provided little support.
“As usual, they have been extremely rude and unhelpful,” he said. “They told me I am in a ‘catch-22’ and I should just retire! But I am too young to retire, and with 24 years on the job, I am not eligible for retirement.”
In response, UFT spokesperson Alison Gendar told Brooklyn Paper, “The UFT must respect members’ privacy and so does not comment on individual personnel matters, especially when there are medical issues at play. Mr. Freud is using his legal rights to file a lawsuit against the DOE, and while that is pending, the DOE is prevented from terminating him. We continue to advocate on his behalf.”
On Nov. 12, Martinez filed an emergency order for a temporary restraining order in Kings County Supreme Court to prevent the DOE from terminating Freud or placing him on unpaid leave. That same day, she also filed a verified petition under Article 78, a civil suit challenging a government agency’s decision.
By Dec. 10, the DOE filed an opposition to the TRO, but the order remained in place. On the afternoon of Dec. 23, the DOE filed an emergency motion stating that Freud had exhausted his accrued paid time off.
In court documents, the DOE faulted Freud.
“Petitioner has not reported to work in over two months, nor does he indicate that he intends to begin reporting to work, allege that he is physically capable of doing so, or indicate an attempt to obtain DOE medical clearance to return to work,” the department said, according to filings. “Indeed, he concedes he is incapable of fulfilling a classroom teacher role, and a DOE physician ultimately found Petitioner unfit pursuant to N.Y. Educ. Law § 2568. An unfit teacher cannot be accommodated because they cannot perform the essential functions of being a DOE teacher.”
The same documents argue that the temporary restraining order prevents P.S. K369 from hiring another teacher “to fill the role left by” Freud’s continued absence. Additionally, the DOE’s emergency motion claims that continuing to pay Freud is a misuse of taxpayer funds.
“It would be inequitable, as well as a burden to taxpayers and harmful to students, to continue the temporary restraining order and require Respondents to keep paying Petitioner while Petitioner is not performing any services,” court documents state.
“I spent the holidays not knowing whether I would be terminated at any moment,” Freud said. “I am still completely blacklisted. Even applying for other jobs, I know that they will never hire me or reassign me. I have no idea where I stand.”
Freud says he has been experiencing insomnia, depression, and anxiety, and describes the treatment he has received from both the DOE and the UFT as psychological abuse.
UFT spokesperson Gendar maintained the union has been supporting Freud in applying for a medical leave of absence.
“If the DOE is, in fact, trying to terminate Mr. Freud,” Gendar said, “they are aware that he, as a tenured pedagogue, has due process rights. If we get any indication that the DOE is seeking to circumvent that procedure, we would fight it tooth and nail, as we always do.”
When reached for comment, the DOE press office referred Brooklyn Paper to the New York City Law Department, which declined to comment on the case.
This isn’t Freud’s first legal battle with the DOE. In 2022, he filed a lawsuit against the department, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and P.S. K369 Principal Marjorie Dalrymple, citing discrimination as an Orthodox Jew. He is also unvaccinated for medical reasons. When asked if both cases are related to his current legal fight, Freud said, “I do not know. It is possible that this could be retaliation for that lawsuit, or for being unvaccinated.”
Despite Freud’s feelings that the DOE is “twisted and corrupt,” he still hopes to one day work with children with disabilities again.
“I have dedicated 24 years of my life to teaching New York City kids, and I am basically being told that I am useless because of a physical disability,” he said. “I would prefer at this point to have nothing more to do with these people, but at the same time, this is my life’s work. I can still help children and their families and contribute to this city.”