An autistic teacher has been awarded a staggering £850,000 in a discrimination case after school bosses sacked him for repeatedly making complaints.
Headteacher James Kilmartin said grievances raised by Marcus Wright were taking up a ‘disproportionately large’ amount of time for both himself and the senior leadership team.
The head of maths, who was diagnosed with autism in 2017, said his disability meant he often became ‘fixated’ on issues and that despite his complaints he loved his job.
After he was suspended, the teacher was offered a settlement, then later a demotion to the role of ‘high performance coach’ which he reluctantly accepted ‘under protest’.
But, this condition angered bosses who said they had now ‘exhausted all avenues’ and sacked him.
Now, Mr Wright has been awarded £850,000 in compensation after successfully suing for unfair dismissal, victimisation and disability discrimination.
Mr Wright started working for the Cardinal Newman Catholic School which is based in Brighton and Hove, West Sussex, in 2005.
The religious state-maintained secondary school has just over 2,500 pupils aged between 11 and 18 and the teacher was employed as the head of maths.
The panel noted that in 2015, Mr Wright was ‘heavily involved’ in supporting a former colleague in their tribunal against the school.
Pictured: Cardinal Newman Catholic School in Brighton and Hove, West Sussex
The head of maths, who was diagnosed with autism in 2017, said his disability meant he often became ‘fixated’ on issues and that despite his complaints he loved his job (Stock image of a classroom)
It was heard that the following year, the teacher found a three-page extract of the school handbook in his pigeonhole at work.
His name was listed with a black cross next to it which indicated there were ‘concerns’ about his performance, and Mr Wright described feeling ‘targeted’.
In light of this, he raised a grievance and said he felt as if there had been a ‘deliberate and sustained attempt’ to ‘undermine’ him due to his involvement in the earlier tribunal.
Mr Wright alleged that his previous experiences of bullying complaints against another member of staff had been ignored.
But, these claims within the grievance were not upheld.
The teacher appealed the outcome and his complaints of bullying were investigated.
Around this time, in 2017, Mr Wright sought an autism referral having ‘suspected’ he was on the spectrum.
In June, Mr Wright was asked to meet with the chair of governors after Mr Kilmartin said the teacher ‘had to leave’ and that he ‘could not work with him anymore’.
Summarising his ‘attitude’ towards Mr Wright, the former headteacher said: ‘Over the last three years Marcus has taken up a disproportionately
large amount of my time and the time of other school leaders and governors.
‘His repeated resort to subject access requests, grievances and the continual, largely unspecified, allegations of bullying has reduced my capacity and the capacity of other members of the senior leadership team to address the wider needs of the school and its student.’
Management at the school hoped they could offer Mr Wright a financial settlement in return for him leaving and grew ‘frustrated and angry’ when the teacher rejected this.
As Mr Wright was not prepared to accept a settlement and leave, he was suspended while an investigation looking into the likelihood of him working despite an ‘irretrievable breakdown in relationships’ got underway.
In a witness statement, the teacher said: ‘I was devastated by the suspension as despite my complaints I loved my job.
‘I was trying to get to the truth and receive some acknowledgement in order to move on.
‘I had become fixated on the issue and therefore pursued it tenaciously, which relates to my Autism.’
A ‘shocked’ Mr Wright said his disability affects the way he communicates and he ‘was not conscious of the fact that my behaviour was being perceived in this way’.
In the summer of 2018, after Mr Wright raised another grievance, the school carried out employment training by the National Autistic Society and a number of recommendations were put in place to aid his return to work.
A new role, dubbed Head Performance Coach, was pitched to Mr Wright which he had ‘concerns’ about.
He felt it was a ‘demotion’ and worried about the ‘consequential impact on his career’.
In light of this, he raised a third grievance complaining about the proposal to remove him from his head of maths role and require him to take on the new role.
The teacher told bosses he would accept the role and work ‘under protest’ as the school had ‘threatened to dismiss me’.
But, because of the ‘conditions’ in which Mr Wright agreed to return to work, he was sacked.
The maths teacher sued for unfair dismissal, victimisation and disability discrimination – all of which were upheld.
Employment Judge Antony Hyams-Parish said: ‘The dismissal was inevitably unfair.
‘The circumstances of this case and the reasons for the dismissal, also left the decision to dismiss [Mr Wright] falling significantly outside the band of reasonable responses.’
He said there had been a ‘complete failure’ to determine why his behaviour ‘may have been impacted by autism’.
They said the school did not act proportionately and said: ‘The tribunal was satisfied that [Mr Wright] felt genuinely aggrieved and believed in the truth of his complaints.
‘The tribunal looked carefully at the evidence, the NAS report, all OH reports and concluded that [Mr Wright’s] behaviours which led ultimately to him being dismissed, arose out of his autism.’
Of the £850,000 award the judge said £750,000 of that figure arose from a combination of injury to feelings, loss of earnings (past and future) and pension loss.
An additional £25,000 was added to cover Mr Wright’s legal costs and £75,000 for personal injury compensation.
The state school have until September 27 to make this payment.
