This first chapter of "The Yearbook of School Law, 1986" summarizes and analyzes over 250 state and federal court decisions handed down in 1985 affecting the legal rights of employees of public schools and state education agencies. Among the topics examined are discrimination on the basis of race, religion, sex, national origin, age, and handicap; employees' constitutional rights to feeedom of speech, association, religion, and privacy and substantive due process; and employees' procedural due process rights related to liberty and property interests, the provision of notice of charges, and appropriate hearings. Other topics addressed are permissible personnel actions in cases involving claims of insubordination, unprofessional conduct, immorality, incompetence, and failure to comply with policies and statutes; legal questions raised by reductions in force and involuntary leaves of absence; contractual disputes over board policies, contract stipulations, administrative regulations, and statutory provisions; matters of tenure including tenure by default or by acquiescence; and requirements related to certification. Cases focusing on salaries, employment benefits, criminal acts, torts, collective bargaining, or purely procedural issues are not covered or are dealt with in other chapters of the yearbook. (PGD)