Employment Tribunal Advice needed please

flashnazia

Uncertain wrote: »

Thanks but now you put my quote in bold I've spotted the typo in my post!

Oh yeah! Sorry!

dandelionclock30

denla wrote: »

Reason OP is arrogantly refusing to believe she's lost the case and there's nothing she can do anymore...

She's no longer able to teach. Most jobs requiring CRB check are also out of her reach now that she's been dismissed for gross misconduct for contacting vulnerable children during suspension, despite being warned 7 times.

OP's been hit hard and powerless to do anything. Makes a sane person go mad when you know your future is cleaning toilets or remaining unemployed whilst on JSA.

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Thats not correct for a start that their choice is either JSA now or cleaning loos.What a daft thing to say!!They could retrain, go back to college, start their own buisness do other things etc.

Yeah she probably cant go back to teaching but so what? there will be other opportunities for her. I was dismissed from a job and have now been offerred another job, its not what I was doing before but its not total crap either.
So its possible.
Op just look at other alternatives and go forward in life.

miduck

dandelionclock30 wrote: »

.

Thats not correct for a start that their choice is either JSA now or cleaning loos.What a daft thing to say!!They could retrain, go back to college, start their own buisness do other things etc.

Yeah she probably cant go back to teaching but so what? there will be other opportunities for her. I was dismissed from a job and have now been offerred another job, its not what I was doing before but its not total crap either.
So its possible.
Op just look at other alternatives and go forward in life.

Retraining at near 53 years old is possibly not the best advice!

dandelionclock30

Why not? I've been on courses before with people in their 50s and 60s even.

OP is definatley going to have to think about doing something different from teaching thats for sure.

dizzyrascal

miduck wrote: »

Retraining at near 53 years old is possibly not the best advice!

First if all the OP has no choice now but to retrain or work in another profession.
Secondly, the OP still has a few good years left before retirement and many people do retrain at this age or change careers. I will admit it is not ideal but you make it sound impossible.
In fact it's quite common for teachers to look for a career change after they have given the profession their best years.

denla

dizzyrascal wrote: »

First if all the OP has no choice now but to retrain or work in another profession.
Secondly, the OP still has a few good years left before retirement and many people do retrain at this age or change careers. I will admit it is not ideal but you make it sound impossible.
In fact it's quite common for teachers to look for a career change after they have given the profession their best years.

And what can a 53 year old retrain in so she can work in a field not requiring CRB checks? Starting your own business requires a lot of finance.

Teachers often change careers but that's when they weren't dismissed, able to pass CRB checks for other professions, and have decent to good employment references to help them get those jobs. When the reference says she was warned 7 times after being suspended, and still refused to follow rules, I don't think any employer in the right mind will show leniency and give OP the chance to explain herself.

Well we do need to start somewhere. OP should think of possible career changes then compile a list that won't need a CRB check. The headache of getting references or retraining can come after that.

Fleabag

As a layperson, but a manager, I have an example that might help:
A member of my staff is currently suspended over an allegation of being involved in an exchange of drugs in a voluntary sector adult social care service. Based on knowledge of the member of staff, the person who made the allegation and the circumstances leading up to it, we were pretty certain it was a malicious allegation and the staff member was innocent. However, he had to be suspended because of the severity of the allegation, the fact that we work with vulnerable adults and that we have a duty to take all allegations seriously and to investigate fully. The terms of the suspension include not discussing the issue with any other employee and not having contact with service users.
If he were to voluntarily support any of our clients whilst being investigated for drug dealing, he would HAVE to be dismissed, despite the fact that we know the allegations are untrue. Apart from anything else, the safeguarding team would throw the book at us for disregarding such a fundamental breach of the terms of the suspension. He would be under disciplinary for failing to follow a reasonable instruction and for breaching the specific terms of the suspension as laid out in policies and letters. Though suspension is a neutral act, it exists to remove a staff member accused of wrongdoing from any situation that could put others (or an organisation) at risk IF they are guilty.
I agree, they seem to have been looking for any excuse to fire you, but you say you had nothing to lose when you decided to take the boys out. You're wrong, you did have plenty to lose. You gave them opportunity to fire you for breaching the terms of the suspension (regardless of the validity of the suspension) and for failing to follow a management instruction. Had you ensured you kept to the rules and obeyed every instruction, you'd have had a strong case against them if they'd tried to dismiss you on fabricated charges.

I am interested, though (from the legal perspective), would the OP be able to bring a completely separate case against the school for the victimisation recieved following the whistleblowing?

Uncertain

denla wrote: »

And what can a 53 year old retrain in so she can work in a field not requiring CRB checks? Starting your own business requires a lot of finance.

The vast majority of jobs do not require CRB checks. In fact it is illegal for an employer to request one unless the job meets the criteria.

Many successful businesses have been started from nothing. Not all require "a lot of finance" by any means.

FBaby

OP, I have read your whole thread and my heart so go for you. You have been doomed with bad luck of circumstances all the way. You didn't want to step up to the role that was the initiator to all your trouble. I assume you agreed to take the boys to football because your listened to your heart and did what you knew was right by them. It is all what makes you a good teacher that has caused you to be where you are. This extreme case of moral unfairness makes you want to choke. I don't know you and my stomach is in knot for you.

Unfortunately, I assume your limited knowledge of how the law works was gained whilst going through all this rather than prior to deciding to take the school to court. I have no training whatsoever in law, yet reading your first post, I had already picked up the reason for the judge decision, based on the fact that you had given them a good reason to dismiss you. You fed it to them right in their hands, couldn't have made it easier for them, but I understand that at the time, you were not thinking about the legal repercussion when you made that very very silly decision under the circumstamces.

OP, as everyone said, you really really have no choice but to move on because it has become very clear that from a legal stand, it is very likely you are to gain anything positive by keeping going. Psychologically though, you need to look after yourself. You have been battered totally unfairly and that is very hard to move on from. It's like being assaulted, then being punished for complaining of it. I would strongly suggest that you seek some sort of counselling. I would in your shoes.

The world is very very ugly and corrupt people get away from their bad practices all the time BUT.... my experience is that they often do get get what they deserve in the end, not always, but often. Many people will now know what the Head is like and it is likely she has lost a lot of her credibility, even amongst those who might have been very supportive in the past.

Keep your head high. You might feel you have lost everything, but what you still have is integrity. Probably doesn't feel like much for now, but still unvaluable. Good luck OP.

zzzLazyDaisy

Fleabag wrote: »

I am interested, though (from the legal perspective), would the OP be able to bring a completely separate case against the school for the victimisation recieved following the whistleblowing?

To be honest I am not convinced that this is a true 'whistleblowing' case, in the legal sense (see below for a very brief summary of what constitutes whistleblowing in law).

However, as far as OP is concerned this is a bit of a red herring because:

1 she is well outside the 3 month time limit to bring such a case; and

2 an independent tribunal has already ruled that the reason for her dismissal was her refusal to comply with the terms of her suspension, so any argument that the real reason for her dismissal was related to whistleblowing should already have been put to, and considered by, the tribunal at the time, and even if she was not out of time, it is not open to OP to seek to litigate the same facts in a separate claim.

https://www.gov.uk/whistleblowing/dismissals-and-whistleblowing