EAT Unfair Dismissal : Reasonableness of Dismissal – Unfair dismissal. Drama teachers dismissed in relation to permitting GCSE students to stage a performance depicting sexual abuse including rape, sexual intercourse, sexual assault, oral sex, masturbation, and group sex. Tribunal’s finding of unfair dismissal held to be perverse; the Tribunal had, in finding that employers should not have accepted advice of the local authority’s safeguarding officer regarding the potential risk to students, failed to take account of a relevant factor (his prior relevant experience) and took account of an irrelevant factor (the reaction, at the time, of members of the audience and some of the students who had taken part in the performance). They had failed, when considering whether or not there had been a reasonable investigation, to have regard to all relevant factors. There were also indications that the Tribunal had adopted a substitution mindset. Appeal upheld and claims remitted to a freshly constituted Employment Tribunal.
Judges:
Lady Smith
Citations:
[2012] UKEAT 0155 – 12 – 2310
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Employment
Updated: 06 November 2022; Ref: scu.465543