An Auckland teacher found not guilty of indecent assault against students, has now won an employment court case against an intermediate school for lost wages.
The school's board has also been ordered by the Employment Relations Authority to pay $45,000 for his unjustifiable dismissal.
The teacher had claimed he had been unjustifiably dismissed by the central Auckland intermediate school, and that the school's board had breached its duty of good faith.
The board however denied this and claimed the teacher was justifiably dismissed for serious misconduct.
The teacher had been employed at the school as a specialist teacher since 1990 and was described as an active member of the school community.
In March 2017, he taught the Pounamu group, a bilingual group of students who had recently joined the school.
During the lesson, the teacher said the students were unco-operative and had a negative attitude to the project on which he had instructed them to work.
He said some of the students had painted their hands with black paint and acted disruptively instead of doing the work they were allocated.
By the end of the class the teacher said he had been very frustrated and had used a swear word.
Another teacher told the deputy principal at the time that she had spoken to a group of students after the class and they had complained that the teacher had sworn at them and touched them inappropriately. This was then told to the principal.
The teacher was told that several of the Pounamu group students who had been in his class had made allegations of sexual misconduct against him. It was alleged he had touched several girls on their breasts and used profane swear words to address them.
The teacher said he admitted to a momentary lapse in using one expletive but was
shocked to be told about what he regarded as fabricated allegations of sexual
touching.
He denied the allegations of inappropriate touching to the principal, saying they were false.
The teacher was told to go on leave midway through teaching his classes the day following the complaints.
He was then told in an email "the investigation will be taken over by a Multi Allegation Investigation team".
Documentation found on the school's server found that there had been previous allegations against the teacher in 2000, 2001 and 2002 but they had not been substantiated and resulted in no disciplinary action.
He had been given a final written warning dated May 20, 2003, in regard to a
complaint he had inappropriately disciplined a student.
In light of the seriousness of the latest allegations against the teacher, the board's unanimous decision was termination.
The teacher was given a dismissal letter on April 11, 2017.
On May 28, the teacher was charged by police with seven counts of indecent assault.
However, a jury trial found the witness evidence to be not credible and the teacher was found not guilty and acquitted of all seven charges.
The Complaints Assessment Committee concluded the teacher should be censured, which he accepted, but the principal refused to sign his practicing certificate.
Authority member Eleanor Robinson said the allegations against the teacher were serious and it was incumbent upon the school to take them seriously.
"However, the nature of the allegations did not infer that the school could act without having reasonable grounds for finding the allegations substantiated following a fair and reasonable investigative process," Robinson said.
She noted that previous incidents against the teacher did not involve touching of a sexual nature.
"Employers are expected to enter into a disciplinary process with an open mind,
the inference being in this case that from the outset the board had formed a view of [the teacher's] credibility based on the historical incidents and an expired warning from 14
years previously.
"I find that the board did not conduct a fair and reasonable process."
The authority determined that the teacher was unjustifiably dismissed by the board and unjustifiably disadvantaged by the directives in the notice of suspension.
The board was also found to have breached the duty of good faith it owed to the teacher during his employment.
"Throughout the initial stages of the process [the teacher] had strenuously denied the allegations against him apart from having sworn in the class, and I find it was incumbent upon the board acting in good faith to carefully consider that explanation prior to reaching the decision to dismiss," Robinson said.
"I find that the board did breach the duty of good faith it owed to [the teacher]."
The school was ordered to pay the teacher lost wages from the date of his dismissal on April 11, 2017, to July 28, 2020.
Robinson said she was also satisfied the teacher had suffered significant hurt, humiliation and injury to feelings as a result of his personal grievance.
The board was also ordered to pay the teacher $45,000 as compensation for his unjustifiable dismissal and unjustifiable disadvantage.
