In Governing Body of Tubbenden Primary School v
Sylvester a deputy head teacher of a school was friends with a
former teacher who was arrested for possessing indecent images on
his computer. The deputy head was told not to have contact with the
other teacher but otherwise the school decided not to take any
action against the deputy head at that stage. However, the deputy
head continued to have contact with the former teacher and parents
raised concerns with the school. The deputy-head was subsequently
suspended; the school undertook a disciplinary process against her
and dismissed her for loss of trust and confidence.
She brought an unfair dismissal claim in the Employment
Tribunal. The Tribunal and the Employment Appeal Tribunal accepted
that there was a potentially fair reasons for dismissal under the
general catch-all category of "some other substantial
reason", but it found that in all the circumstances of the
case her dismissal was unfair because it had been akin to a
misconduct situation and the employer should therefore have
followed the same principles of fairness which apply in misconduct
dismissal. For example, it should have issued her with warnings
before proceeding to dismiss. The school had "approved"
the friendship by not taking action against the deputy head
initially and the Tribunal concluded that it was unfair of the
school to change its mind later without any warning.
Comment: Employers should always take a
cautious approach when relying on loss of trust and confidence to
justify dismissal. In particular, when the loss of trust and
confidence arises from a situation which is similar to misconduct,
employers should follow something akin to the usual
misconduct-style procedures and should consider issuing a warning
before proceeding to dismiss.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general
guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought
about your specific circumstances.
Specific Questions relating to this article should be addressed directly to the author.
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