FWC dismisses appeal of finding that teacher who yelled at students was unfairly sacked

A high school teacher’s dismissal for raising her voice at students has been declared unfair, with the Fair Work Commission’s ruling upheld after the school’s appeal was rejected in a recent case.

The Fair Work Commission has firmly rejected an appeal by the Australian International Islamic College, upholding its earlier ruling that the dismissal of a high school teacher was unfair and unreasonable.

The high school teacher was summarily dismissed in 2023 after the college accused her of yelling and raising her voice at misbehaving students.

In the unfair dismissal case heard a few months ago, the college said that the former high school teacher’s actions amounted to serious misconduct, pointing to alleged policy breaches and claims of dishonesty during an internal investigation.

The commission, however, dismantled the college’s case after a student – who admitted they did not have a cordial relationship with the teacher – testified that other senior staff were far more notorious for yelling at students than the teacher who was dismissed.

The ruling found that the dismissal was not truly about the alleged yelling, but instead stemmed from a flawed and contrived process triggered by the teacher’s criticism of her supervisor’s treatment of another colleague.

As a result, commissioner Crawford ruled that the college had no valid basis for terminating the teacher’s employment.

While reinstatement was considered inappropriate, the commission ordered the college to pay the maximum allowable compensation of $55,786.90, plus $6,415.40 in superannuation, describing the reason for her dismissal as “absurd”.

The college sought permission to appeal commissioner Crawford’s decision, narrowing its grounds of appeal to three: that the commissioner should have recused himself due to “apprehended bias”, that he had made factual errors, and that he “failed to consider the totality of the matters”.

However, the full bench dismissed all three of the college’s grounds of appeal, noting that the former high school teacher had consistently challenged the allegations and maintained that her dismissal was “predetermined” following a confrontation with her supervisor over the treatment of another colleague.

The bench also found that it was satisfied that “the College, and witnesses called by the College, were not denied procedural fairness”, and that the commissioner’s conclusions were fully supported by the evidence before him.

While the full bench granted permission to appeal on public interest grounds, it ultimately rejected all grounds of appeal, stating that while it was in the public interest to grant permission to appeal, “no error has been established in the decision of the Commissioner” and dismissed the college’s appeal.