TEMECULA - A civil lawsuit filed last week against the Temecula school district contends its officials are violating state law and accuses them of retaliation and harassment against employees.

The lawsuit, filed April 27 with Riverside County Superior Court on behalf of several current nonteaching employees, asks for monetary damages in excess of $25,000 and attorneys fees.

The thrust of the lawsuit alleges that the district's transportation department uses procedures that violate the state's education code. The allegations include that officials have hired drivers on a temporary status instead of full-time, where they would be eligible for benefits. The suit also claims that drivers are not allowed to work a set amount of hours each week, but are instead subject to the ebb and flow of the school calendar.

The lawsuit seeks compensation for the effects the alleged policies are having on bus and van drivers employed by the district.

The lawsuit also contends that an instructional aide and member of the nonteaching union worked as a teacher for about 18 months at Margarita Middle School, duties that are not spelled out in her employment contract. She is seeking extra compensation for work she performed as a teacher.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit are members of Local Chapter 538 of the California School Employees Association and their attorney is Tim Taggart, a regional labor relations representative for the statewide union. However, the lawsuit was filed by Taggart as a private attorney.

Until recently, Taggart served as the Temecula chapter's union representative. He was transferred to another region and was replaced by labor relations representative Rob Wilber.

Wilber said he was not familiar with the lawsuit except to say Taggart did not file it on behalf of the CSEA. Taggart's voice mail states he is out of town for the week. He could not be reached for comment and did not respond to messages or e-mails.

Sherry Etherington, president of Local 538, declined to comment on the lawsuit, citing confidentiality issues.

District spokeswoman Melanie Norton also declined to comment on the suit.

The lawsuit contends that transportation department director Bill McKinney uses part-time or temporary employees instead of full-time employees who are entitled to the work handed out to others. Court documents contend this practice continues to this day.

The lawsuit also contends that some drivers worked each school day for about three years on a "temporary" basis, meaning they were not official district employees and thus not entitled to vacation time or benefits. Those drivers were eventually hired, but the lawsuit is seeking compensation for the years in which they did not earn time off or benefits.

Another contention in court documents is that a number of bus drivers are entitled to compensation because of a district practice that drivers should not report to work when student busing is unneeded.

In a November interview, Taggart said bus drivers are hired for a set number of hours per week. Whether they are driving students or doing other tasks such as fixing bus seats or washing vehicles, they are by law entitled to work their set amount of hours, he said.

The transportation issues were the subject of grievance complaints filed in January 2006 by the union.

The lawsuit also addresses another grievance, filed by the union in October 2006. In that case, Instructional Assistant II Maureen Aguilera alleged that she worked outside of her job description.

Aguilera, a member of the classified union who doesn't have a bachelor's degree, said in an interview in November of last year that she worked as a teacher at Margarita Middle School. The lawsuit essentially states the same thing.

"Aguilera was assigned her own classroom, had charge of students without the direction or supervision of her teacher, prepared daily class teaching plans for her assigned students, prepared and administered testing, graded the work and managed her classroom," the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit contends Aguilera was harassed by the teacher she was assigned to work with because of her strong Scottish accent. The suit adds that Aguilera was retaliated against when she complained about the verbal harassment and that she has suffered "emotional distress" over the whole situation.

It remained unclear Wednesday the status of the grievances filed through official union channels. In November, Taggart had said he was seeking support from his association's legal division to file a lawsuit over the grievances, as the issues were not getting resolved through mediation. Wilber said it was rare for a regional labor relations representative to file a lawsuit such as this privately.

- Contact staff writer Jennifer Kabbany at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2625, or jkabbany@californian.com.