Teacher fired after whistleblowing wins £50,000 payout
A whistleblowing teacher who was sacked after revealing that misbehaving pupils were being ‘hidden away on the squash courts’ during an Ofsted inspection has been awarded £50,000 at a Tribunal.
Ged Thomas, a PE and Maths teacher, was dismissed from his role at the Berwick Academy, Northumberland, after making the claim to Ofsted. He also posted critical comments about the school’s headteacher on Facebook.
In January 2018, Mr Thomas had contacted Ofsted to warn them that unruly pupils were kept hidden away from inspectors during visit to the school. The inspectors later deemed the school to be ‘inadequate’ – the lowest level on the scale.
At the initial hearing, employment Judge Tudor Garnon said:
“[Mr Thomas] received text messages from a colleague and parents saying certain pupils, who were known for misbehaving, had been removed from lessons to the squash courts out of sight of the inspection team. Hiding children from Ofsted inspectors would almost certainly amount to concealment of information which tends to show relevant failures.
“That for him was the last straw. He formally raised his concerns to Ofsted through their online school teachers’ portal, whilst sitting in his car.”
The term whistleblowing means that someone has exposed some information or activity that they feel is unethical, illegal or not correct within the bounds of their organisation.
Mr Thomas made separate social media comments on The Berwick Advertiser’s Facebook page under a link to an article about the headteacher’s departure from the school. Replying to another commenter, he talked about her ‘ability to manipulate, persuade, bully and lie’.
He also said she had a ‘failed approach to behaviour management, teaching and learning, staff management and leadership’.
The comments were reported to the school and Mr Thomas was dismissed. The school claimed the remarks were “derogatory or offensive about the school”, breached its social media policy and code of conduct, and were “the sole reason for dismissal”, not his whistleblowing. However, the Tribunal found the comments were not an “indication of disloyalty” and ruled the internal investigation leading to Mr Thomas’s dismissal was “deeply flawed”.
The Tribunal found the school’s policy on social media use and whistleblowing was overly “complex” and “it was inevitable there would be disagreement on whether they were complied with fully”.
Judge Garnon upheld Mr Thomas’ claims for wrongful dismissal, unfair dismissal, compensation for untaken annual leave and breach of contract relating to missing property. He was awarded £4,002 for breach of contract, £42,827 for unfair dismissal and a further £3,293 for untaken annual leave.
Donna Goddard, Chair and Parent Trustee at Berwick Academy, said:
“We are disappointed with the Employment Tribunal’s decision that Mr Thomas was unfairly dismissed, particularly in view of its findings regarding his high degree of contributory fault towards his dismissal. We wish to emphasise that the Tribunal rejected Mr Thomas’ principal argument that he was dismissed for publicly raising concerns or ‘blowing the whistle’, as the Academy has robustly maintained throughout.
“This judgment relates to legal proceedings which have been ongoing since 2018, in respect of events which took place under previous Senior Leadership Teams. The Academy wishes to move forward and continue working with relevant stakeholders to deliver the highest standards of education to its current and future pupils.”
The school carried out an investigation into Mr Thomas’ claims that pupils had been hidden but found ‘no evidence’ to substantiate the allegations.
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