‘Rape’ employee loses tribunal

ASCHOOL employee who claimed she was raped by a teacher on a staff night out and says she was left suicidal and unsupported by her employers has lost her tribunal.

The woman is claiming unfair dismissal from the Cardiff school where she worked. The school can not be named for legal reasons.

The staff member said she had to resign because of the incident, a lack of support afterwards and because

the teacher she alleges raped her was not suspended.

A two-day employment tribunal was held on June 27 and June 28, where the woman gave evidence.

At the tribunal, held at Cardiff Magistrates’ Court, she said: “I felt ostracised. I was suicidal. I wanted to curl up into a ball... I could have driven off the slip road. I was in turmoil.

“I was in absolute disarray.” A judgment released on Monday said: “The claimant was not constructively dismissed and her claim is not well founded.”

It added that the school’s response was “proportionate” after the alleged events and the level of contact was “reasonable”.

Judge Alison Frazer wrote in her conclusion: “Having regard to the evidence and the findings I have made in respect of the respondent’s conduct judged objectively I do not find that either cumulatively or singularly the respondent’s conduct was either calculated or likely to damage or destroy the relationship of trust and confidence that existed between itself and the claimant.

“For that reason there was no fundamental breach of contract and the claimant was not constructively dismissed.”

The school denied she was unsupported and said her immediate line manager stayed in contact and offered support via text messages and offered to meet her in person – an offer they say she didn’t take up.

Judge Alison Frazer made a legal order banning the reporting of the claimant’s identity, that of her family and of the teacher she accused.

The judgment was released publicly on July 22 but was sent to parties involved on July 10.