Black PE teacher wins £40,000 compensation after sacking by white headmaster she said treated her like an 'angry black woman'
A black PE teacher has won £40,000 in compensation after being sacked by a white headmaster she said treated her like an 'angry black woman'.
Louise Lewis claimed Andrew Fell could have breached equality laws after he launched disciplinary proceedings against her, an employment tribunal heard.
As the leader of a multi-cultural school, the new head - who was inexperienced and had yet to develop a 'rhinoceros skin' - was 'extremely exercised' by the accusation.
He pushed to have Ms Lewis - who was also a trade union representative - suspended, a move that led to disruptive protests outside the school and a social media campaign against Mr Fell.
The PE teacher, 41, was then sacked after the chair of governors concluded that her relationship with the school's leadership team was irreparably broken.
She sued North Huddersfield Trust School in Yorkshire for race discrimination, claiming that Mr Fell had portrayed her as an 'angry black woman'.
Louise Lewis won £40,000 in compensation after being sacked by a white headmaster she said treated her like an 'angry black woman'
She claimed Andrew Fell could have breached equality laws after he launched disciplinary proceedings against her, an employment tribunal heard
While that claim was dismissed, the tribunal did conclude she had been unfairly treated through her suspension and dismissal.
Now, Ms Lewis has been awarded £38,264 in compensation for unfair dismissal and victimisation.
The Leeds hearing was told Ms Lewis worked at 'one of the most diverse schools in the north of England'. Mr Fell joined as head teacher at the start of the 2019 summer term.
In November that year the National Education Union (NEU) representative accidentally sent an email to all staff about part-time staff hours that Mr Fell felt was inaccurate.
Without Ms Lewis present, he told staff to disregard the message, a move that the tribunal heard led to a heated meeting between the pair the following week.
'[Ms Lewis] had written up some notes of points she wished to make to him, which included a definition of harassment in the workplace,' the tribunal said. 'She accepted that, when she went to see Mr Fell, she was already upset.'
At the hearing, the PE teacher claimed that when she complained, Mr Fell told her he was the head teacher and 'could do as he wanted', an accusation the head denied.
'[She] thus considered that her concerns were being dismissed,' the tribunal said.
'[She] said it was then that she gave examples of harassment and went on to explain how he had made her feel.
'Massively affronted' Mr Fell told the tribunal that Ms Lewis had accused him of bullying her and also raised 'harassment'.
'He was shocked, he said, seeing her reaction as disproportionate and extreme,' the panel said. 'He saw there to be some difference between being upset about the announcement and claiming that he was bullying and harassing her.'
Mr Fell then emailed his PA with an account of the meeting in which he described Ms Lewis's attitude attitude as 'rather aggressive and accusatory'.
At the tribunal Ms Lewis claimed there were 'racial connotations' in his characterisation of her as aggressive.
'It was his perception of how black people and particularly black women are,' she said. 'They are accused of being aggressive when they try to be assertive.'
Ms Lewis was fired from North Huddersfield Trust School after being suspended
His reference to black women as aggressive was stereotyping on his part, she claimed.
Mr Fell defended his reaction. 'I was being accused of something which goes to the core of my character,' he said.
He added that he was unaware of any racial stereotype when he referred to Ms Lewis's demeanour.
Ms Lewis claimed at the tribunal that following this meeting Mr Fell tried to 'engineer' her being disciplined.
The tribunal was told that in the first few months of 2020, a number of concerns were raised at the school that the PE teacher was not supervising pupils properly, that she had missed a parent's evening and that she had failed to teach one of her classes.
Following these complaints, Mr Fell checked the school CCTV system for the dates concerned, the hearing was told.
The head teacher wrote to Ms Lewis on 20 April informing her that she would be required to attend a formal management meeting to discuss 'concerns about her professional conduct'.
However, the closure of the school due to the Covid 19 pandemic meant the meeting was postponed until September.
During that time, the tribunal heard Mr Fell claimed her professional conduct had continued to cause 'significant concerns throughout the period of lockdown and over the summer holiday'.
Ms Lewis disputed Mr Fell's position and was suspended in October and launched a grievance the same month. However, most of her complaints were rejected.
In December a protest took place outside the school claiming she had been suspended for carrying out legitimate trade union duties and victimised for standing up for health and safety.
A social media campaign also targeted Mr Fell and the school, the hearing was told, which the head described as a 'character assassination'.
In December 2021 Ms Lewis was fired after Philip Weston, chair of governors, found that Ms Lewis's employment could not continue.
The tribunal - chaired by Employment Judge Neil Maidment - rejected her argument that she had been the victim of race discrimination.
However, the tribunal did agree that she had been victimised and unfairly dismissed, concluding that Ms Lewis's suggestion of discrimination had motivated him to argue for her suspension.
It said: 'Mr Fell's reaction was not permissible, but it arose out of him being indignant at being accused of discrimination in circumstances where he understood that to be a most serious allegation which caused him great personal hurt and in circumstances where he did not believe that there was any substance to the allegations.'
Ms Lewis was equally to blame for what happened to her, the tribunal found.
