€75k for teacher fired after harassment claim

The Equality Tribunal has ordered a secondary school to pay €75,000 in compensation to a former teacher who it ruled was dismissed because she had made a number of unsubstantiated complaints of sexual harassment against several male students.

It found the female teacher was victimised by the school, believed to be in the Cork region, because it had based its decision in Jun 2008 not to renew her contract on the fact she had made allegations of sexual harassment after being called a “slut” by some pupils.

The tribunal rejected the school’s assertion that she was sacked due to her failure to adhere to its disciplinary procedures by not notifying superiors about such allegations in a timely fashion.