Is there a case to be heard?

Jelly_legs

"A can of worms" I think may be the correct phrase here! I know School did issue a section 188 ( or whatever its called) earlier in year due to falling rolls and I was told my dept was at risk of staff cut backs before the dismissal on grounds of ill health was even mentioned.
No news as yet from the union, except the that case worker who was looking at the documents has passed it on to the Head of the Regional Centre. With luck she will tell me "yes" or "no" soon.Then, I can either forget about it or pursue it.

zzzLazyDaisy

Jelly_legs wrote: »

Yes, they did pay a supply so I can understand it was expensive but I`ve got 10 yrs service so my sick entitlement was actually 12 months.

Just to be clear, had your sick pay entitlement expired by the time you were dismissed? If not, you should also take advice on breach of contract as the employer should have allowed you to remain on sick leave at least until your sick pay entitlement expired.

Re disability discrimination - on the information you provided, this is certainly DD. The HT has jumped the gun and has failed to comply with the duty to make reasonable adjustments:

1 The HT should have made reasonable adjustments re the meeting and held it in a ground floor room

2 The HT had a duty to consider whether there were any reasonable adjustments that could be made to enable you to return to work. She had agreed to cooperate with ATW, and to cover her own back that is exactly what she should have done. As another poster has said, maybe the outcome would have been the same, but as ATW were not allowed to carry out the assessment, you/she will never know - and a tribunal is unlikely to go down that route in a discrimination case especially as there is no evidence about this.

3 remember also that in a discrimination case compensation is not confined to loss of earnings, as in a normal unfair dismissal case. The tribunal will also award compensation for 'injury to feelings' which reflects the way in which the employee was treated, and the way the dismissal was handled.

I hope your union now takes this up on your behalf, but if you need general advice about discrimination in employment you can get more information here http://www.equalityhumanrights.com

Jelly_legs

Hi Lazy Daisy,

Thanks for your comments.

When I was told (in May) that I was to lose my job, I still had another 5 months paid (half pay) sick leave to go. My last date of contract was 31st August and I was paid until that date. In theory I should have had another 2 months to go of my S/L entitlement.

I can see it looks as though I`m compensation grabbing but ideally I`d like to retrain to teach children in a smaller group setting such as special needs etc because I think that would suit me better given my mobility problems. That`s going to mean hardwork on my part, uni fees and somehow paying the mortgage etc at the same time for a year. My redundancy won`t cover it so that money has to come from somewhere.......anyway in an ideal world that is what I would like!

Still waiting to hear from my union. I`ll put a call in to them today to see how things are progressing.

TOBRUK

Hi Jelly_legs, it does seem to me that you have a very good case for unfair dismissal and discrimination - but I'm not qualified so what do I know! Whatever happens they were wrong morally if not otherwise.

I wouldn't worry about anyone who thinks that you are 'compensation grabbing' - it has affected your life enormously and has affected your chances of getting other teaching jobs in the future, hopefully you will win your case and get loss of earnings etc. However, there is a very good chance that this may take a few years before the case gets to court.

As you are already a qualified teacher would you need to go to uni for more than a year to specialise in order to teach special needs?

How long is it since you officially lost your job and been on incapacity or IS? As you have a mortgage you may qualifiy for some help with mortgage interest payments after 13 weeks.

Good luck.

Savvy_Sue

Just be aware that special needs staff often seem to be on a succession of short-term contracts, partly because the funding to pay them is often linked to a particular child, so if the child changes schools the money's gone, and partly because schools want to keep the flexibility in a very tight and getting tighter funding situation. I know of someone who's been doing two part-time contracts in different schools for quite a while, highly experienced in this field, but neither school will commit to a permanent contract - or even one which lasts more than a term!

Jelly_legs

Well, I thought I would let everyone know who has been watching my thread the outcome.

My union NASUWT did actually employ a solicitor to look at all my documents but the result is no case.

He felt that legally no discrimination has taken place. He gave plenty of reasons why and he was very sympathetic and said I deserved some better luck in my life Strangely, the sympathy bit did seem make me feel better!

The upshot was that a tribunal would decide that the adjustments required to get me back teaching were not "reasonable" but extensive. I`ve accepted it and moved on.

However, silver lining and all that.....it looks as though I can claim my pension on grounds ill health!! I`m in the process of applying but my former employer thinks I have a strong chance of getting it. Just waiting to see.

Love JL ( and thanks!)

kazzah60

Hi JL
so pleased that you have found some good in all of this - I still believe your dismissal was rather "convenient" for the Ht - but if you are now in a better situation ( re your pension) then good for you!
thanks for updating the thread - it's good to find out the outcome
Karen