AEA Leadership Conference (June)
AEA Professionals Rights & Responsibilities (PR&R) Conference (April)
ACT/AEA Professional Development Conference (March)
Alabama Aerospace Celebration (October)
AEA Divisional Conference (January)
AEA Emerging Leaders School (held in conjunction with Leadership Conference)
AEA Bell Team Training (held in conjunction with Leadership Conference)
AEA Minority Leadership Conference (November)
Student Alabama Education Conferences (April and November)
Future Teachers of Alabama Conferences (March and October)
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It is without question that AEA has Alabama’s best and largest legal team of any organization in the state. In addition to the five full-time lawyers AEA has who are experts on education and labor law, AEA has assembled a network of 50 of the best labor lawyers across Alabama, all ready to come to the aid of a member in trouble.
“It is AEA lawyers who have won groundbreaking cases. It is only AEA that makes sure educators are treated fairly in every school system in the state,” said Reed. “Ask any member who has needed representation and they’ll tell you, AEA lawyers are the best.”
History has shown that only AEA has the determination and resources to fight difficult cases, those are the real fights. In the 1990s, Birmingham schools tried to privatize all of the school lunchrooms, workers were to be fired and over 450 people would lose their jobs. The plan by the private company was to hire the workers back with no benefits and then pocket the money.
AEA sued the system and after a protracted court battle, AEA prevailed and the jobs of hundreds of education professionals were saved. AEA then worked with the Legislature to amend the pay act to forbid school systems from profiting from privatization, and to make sure school systems could not pocket state benefit money for eliminated positions.
“It takes a great deal of knowledge and resources to take on a big case like fighting privatization,” said Charles Norton, a senior AEA staff attorney. “We do not shy away from a fight if a fight is called for. We work to ensure the rights of our members.”
Norton recalled the time AEA sued the Alabama Examiners of Public Accounts, because they had demanded that teachers and education support professionals pay huge sums back to the state.
Hundreds of employees in Jefferson County received letters from the examiners demanding payment of large sums within 10 days of receipt of the letter. AEA sued the public examiners within days of receipt of those letters, and discovered that their auditor misunderstood the purpose of the payments, which were legal and well-documented for things like mileage reimbursements and other authorized salary payments.
AEA organized a mass meeting of affected employees and signed them up to bring a legal action. After a year of negotiations and hearings, AEA reversed more than $1.5 million of the examiner’s claims, a state record that still stands.
AEA is involved in every aspect of the legal system, from being active in the legislative process to the courts.
“Just look at our name, Alabama education is our business,” said AEA Executive Secretary Dr. Paul Hubbert. “Only AEA has the experts and lobby team to draft and pass legislation that protects teachers and education support professionals. Only AEA has the attorneys to enforce the laws on behalf of educators. Having such a legal team on your side is a tremendous membership benefit. You have to wonder about educators who are not with AEA, why would they put themselves at risk?”
Use the links above for more detailed information on all of the legal benefits of being an AEA member. Click on the Benefits button.