A Barnsley teacher has received thousands of pounds in compensation after he was unfairly dismissed following allegations of bullying and harassment. Barnsley Council paid £12,500 to Robert Butler, a science teacher, who claimed he had been made ill by his treatment at Darton High School.
Mr Butler began his teaching career at Holmfirth High School three years previous to starting at Darton. In the summer of 2007 he secured an advanced school teaching qualification, but despite his rapid progress ran into difficulties in his second term at Darton.
He said he was subjected to sustained and unwarranted criticisms which lead to him going off sick with work related stress in April 2008. Although Mr Butler managed to secure interviews for alternative teaching jobs, he was told he was ruled out because of references from his previous employment at Darton.
In early 2009 Mr Butler was declared fit by a doctor, he then tried to return to work at Darton. However they refused to accept him back and he was forced to resign in May 2009, which prompted his subsequence claim for unfair dismissal.
Mr Butler has since managed to obtain copies of his initial references drawn up by then head teacher, Simon Hill. In which his efforts as a teacher were criticised. However, when compared to later references Mr Hill has written there is no comparison. When asked by reporters, Mr Hill declined to comment on why he had written such negative references.
Mr Butler said: “I think I was subjected to corporate bullying and policy failure, and it was a systematic failure throughout the whole process. I don’t think any organisation can stop individual been bullied, these things happen. “
Barnsley Council admitted unfair dismissal on the grounds it was having difficulty gaining instructions from two ‘pivotal employees’. One was Mr Hill.