Teacher Employment Tribunal / Union Negligence - help please?

[lawyerhelpplease]

Oof, this is sensitive and a bit complicated. Posting on behalf of an extended family member.

Mr A was 5 years qualified, teaching at the same school for children with behavioural and emotional difficulties for those 5 years. Manual restraint a common part of the job. No concerns from management apart from minor issues, resolved as part of usual process, in year 3.

He was depressed, school were aware, strong case that school pressures were cause, no help from school. Pupil complained a restraint was too harsh, supported by another member of staff - found no case to answer. Two weeks later same pupil and member of staff again reported restraint too harsh, this time observed by other members of staff - mixed reports about whether or not this was excessive. Mr A had been started on a new medication three weeks prior, known to affect changes in mood, irritability and judgement - he had not noticed changes but others around him had (verified).

School went through process of gross misconduct, Mr A fired, referred to TRA and DBS. Began process to go to Appeal - this was not submitted in time for the deadline, so is no longer possible, largely due to Union Rep not replying in time. At the current point in time, ACAS have been notified and Early Conciliation is being considered, although there is little he is able to request. The Union have now said that they would not support (fund) a Tribunal.

Mr A would like to know legal guidance about going to Tribunal. Another family member has offered to fund the Tribunal process. Does anyone have any recommendations for employment lawyers specialising in Teaching, especially in settings where restraint techniques are a daily part of the job? Would also be interested to know if there is any way of comeback on the Union Rep for not responding in a timely manner. He is looking for the Misconduct and DBS and TRA to be withdrawn, if that is even possible. Would not plan to return to the school (possible constructive dismissal at that point?) Thank you very much for any guidance and consideration.

I would do a Google of 'Lawyers Employment Law specialist education' and cross check any recommendations from here with the Google results.

My professional advice-

Unions will sniff out a tribunal opportunity like a rat sniffing biscuits. If a union are saying they don’t think there’s a chance, there’s pretty much no chance.

My personal advice-

Unless you’re Mr. A in this situation, you have an unreliable narrator. I see this constantly- someone not being 100% truthful with their spouse or family around the reason for a dismissal.

No one seems remotely concerned for the children in this school. I’m assuming it’s a special school if restraint is a daily part of school life.

It’s also a fact that some people are not suited as teachers. Especially not special school teachers. The school would have to prove they trained him and gave him time to improve. They should have expected someone to say that they were ill and clearly this might affect their work. Also doctors say when people are unfit to work. Employees cannot take themselves off for weeks.

Teachers’ sick pay is generous. They get it for a long time so maybe the discussion between MrA and his doctor didn’t lead the doctor to sign him off. However the children at the school seem to have been forgotten about and they are very needy.,

Employment solicitors are not difficult to find. There are many jobs ex teachers can do. I assume he has a degree so I would see an adult careers service rep. See what career might be better.

Can I ask if school had given adequate training and guidance on restraint. I worked at an independent school with a high number of students with emotional/behaviour issues and we had a training company in to show us correct technique to use. A whole INSET day spent on this each year.

I cannot speak for this school but every special school should have a policy clearly available to all and give training to all employees on restraint of pupils. It’s absolutely necessary. When the school was concerned about a technique being used, I would have expected further training to have been immediately available. The school could be considered negligent if they didn’t do this. It appears it wasn’t one incident so I’m just wondering if they were really looking closely at MrA? He could be a massive liability if he didn’t follow the correct procedure after training snd further advice/training.

The policy to look for is the “Care and Control Policy”. This details everything about how staff exercise their duties regarding controlling pupil behaviour. Then there should be the Capability Procedure. Anyone advocating for MrA should be familiar with these and make sure all procedures were followed by the school. Any competent solicitor in employment law could do this. However if MrA was given every assistance to improve and didn’t, I wouldn’t spend the money on defending the indefensible.

Was there no CCTV? Are you saying that some staff members who witnessed the restraint thought it was OTT?