WBRZ - Baton Rouge

A federal judge has refused to dismiss lawsuits by two teachers against the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board over drug-and-alcohol tests they say they were required to undergo after they suffered on-the-job injuries.

School board members agreed last year to end mandatory testing of injured teachers who were not suspected of substance abuse.

That agreement ended a civil rights lawsuit filed over the issue by the East Baton Rouge Federation of Teachers.

The school board has opposed damage claims by teachers subjected to testing prior to the settlement.

Board attorneys had asked U.S. District Judge James J. Brady to summarily dismiss the claims of teachers Peggy Reno and Rosemarie Patterson.

Brady rejected the board's request.