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Daily Record
Daily Record
World
Julie Dunnett & Ryan Fahey

Teacher's reply after bosses sacked her for calling in sick for 20 years

A teacher who dodged work for 20 years - and only appeared for four years of lessons in 24 years - had an interesting reply for journalists keen to hear her side of the story.

Philosophy and literature teacher Cinzio Paolina de Lio is understood to have used sick leave along with some other leave allowances to avoid work for more than two decades.

After she was eventually sacked from the school in Italy, journalists from Repubblica approached her for comment.

However, she brazenly told them: "Sorry, but right now, I'm at the beach" reports The Mirror.

She then said she wanted to "reconstruct the truth of the facts of this absolutely unique and surreal story".

However, students who attended the four years of lessons she appeared for said she seemed disinterested and even asked to borrow their textbooks.

They also said she was distracted and would text during classes.

School inspectors found her to be "unprepared" and "inattentive" and it was then that she was finally sacked from her job.

Her dismissal turned into a legal battle that ended up in Italy's supreme court. De Lio defended herself by claiming a "freedom of teaching", which the court rejected.

The court argued it was teachers who had a responsibility to make sure student's right to education was protected.

The Italian Supreme Court called her “permanently and absolutely unsuitable” for the job of a teacher despite her claims to having three degrees.

She was also branded the “worst employee in Italy” by her secondary school near Venice.

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