A well respected senior teacher was unfairly sacked and discriminated against for 'trade union reasons', a tribunal has found.
At the tribunal, the teacher claimed that she had been discriminated against by the school. And, in its judgement a panel of three decided that she had been 'automatically unfairly dismissed for trade union reasons', after The Friars' headteacher, Michael Earnshaw, who held 'antipathy towards' her, had put in place a 'punitive' 'support plan'.
The tribunal's panel also concluded: "The claimant suffered unlawful disability discrimination: by the respondents’ unfavourable treatment because of something arising in consequence of disability which was not justified; and by the respondents’ failure to make reasonable adjustments." But the day after she passed on members' concerns to him at a senior leadership team meeting, Mr Earnshaw gave her an 'informal warning' - one which, the tribunal found, 'was in response to the claimant carrying out her trade union role'.
Following that, Mr Earnshaw claimed colleagues had raised several issues about her which would have to be investigated', but 'would not tell her what those issues were, nor when the conduct complained of was said to have occurred.' Following that, she was signed off sick with work-related stress again, and never returned to the school. By 2020 she had been sacked with a letter of dismissal, to which an appeal was turned down.
While Ms Wood-Hope’s health deteriorated to the point that she was unable to work and needed medical support, she lodged an internal grievance against the behaviour by the headteacher and went through a series of internal hearings to explain her case to the school's governing body panels.
Education Education Latest News, Education Education Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: Metro Newspaper UK - 🏆 61. / 63 Read more »