Employment tribunal rules against former headteacher

An employment tribunal has recently ruled against an unfair dismissal appeal brought by an ex-headteacher.

The St Helen's Reporter said the tribunal decided Garswood Primary School's governing body and St Helen's Council were not doing anything wrong when they let Kevin Cooney go from his position.

Mr Cooney was originally suspended from his role as headteacher at the school when others found out that building work carried out on the premises would cost £20,000 to repair as it was faulty.

The claimant was sacked during an internal appeal hearing, which he did not attend as he was taken unwell with a suspected heart attack on his way there.

However, the employment tribunal ignored his claim of disability discrimination and said that the governing body took all the available facts into consideration before they reached their conclusion and would have made the same decision if the meeting was attended by Mr Cooney.

"We welcome the decision of the employment tribunal," councillor Sue Murphy, chair of governors at Garswood Primary, said.

However, not all cases are unsuccessful for claimants, with a group of almost 200 building workers last month winning their case against their former employer Connaught.

Published by Hannah Carr