Lecturer loses unfair dismissal case

20 July 2010



A former college lecturer who claimed his workplace was blighted by "institutional bullying" has lost his unfair dismissal case. Toby Heriz-Smith, who taught at Exeter College, was sacked after a disciplinary hearing in March 2009, the Exeter Express & Echo reports.

In 2008, he complained to the college principal of a "bullying culture" and said that after raising his concerns, he was effectively excluded by not being offered any further work. However, a tribunal in Exeter has ruled that his dismissal was justified after management maintained Mr Heriz-Smith had lost his temper over his treatment.

Mr Heriz-Smith also claimed during the tribunal that Exeter College mismanaged course and student data while he was employed there. "This judgment shows that the college management acted entirely appropriately throughout the process," the newspaper quotes a spokesman for Exeter College as saying. The Tribunals Service's statistics for 2008 to 2009 showed a 29 per cent increase in claims for unfair dismissal compared with the previous year.

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Posted by James Townsend

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