Special needs assistant awarded €255k over school harassment

A special needs assistant has been awarded €255,000 by the High Court for bullying and harassment by the school she worked in.

Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O’Neill described the “severe” and “unmerited” treatment of Una Ruffley by the board of management of St Anne’s National School in the Curragh, Co Kildare, as persistent, inappropriate behaviour which wholly undermined her dignity at work.

He said principal Pauline Dempsey’s account of the complaint against Ms Ruffley to a board meeting was “almost certainly untrue, highly biased, coloured, and grossly and unfairly damnified” Ms Ruffley, who had worked in the school for 14 years.