The High Court awarded special needs assistant Una Ruffley €255,276 in damages after finding that her employers persistently treated her inappropriately and unfairly over a dispute about locking a sensory room door at St Anne’s School in the Curragh, Co Kildare.
In a judgment delivered on 9 May 2014, Mr Justice O’Neill found that the treatment by the school’s principal, Pauline Dempsey, and its board of management amounted to workplace bullying lasting more than a year and undermined Ms Ruffley’s dignity at work. He also found that she suffered an identifiable anxiety and depressive disorder as a result.
The dispute began in September 2009, when Ms Ruffley was found with a pupil in the sensory room while its door was locked. She said locking the door was a common practice among special needs assistants, intended to prevent interruptions and keep pupils from running out. The court found that the practice was common among many assistants, although locking the door was unacceptable for child protection and safety reasons. The school had not previously given an instruction against it, and the court found that the practice stopped after such an instruction was issued.
The judge found that Ms Dempsey did not investigate Ms Ruffley’s claim that other assistants also locked the door before taking the matter to the board. The board was told about the incident in November 2009 and decided to pursue disciplinary action. Ms Ruffley was not given the material put before the board or a chance to respond before it considered sanctions. In January 2010, she received a final written warning to remain on her employment file for 18 months.
The court rejected the school’s claim that an investigation had been carried out at the board’s request. It found that allegations of poor improvement and falsifying a review form had no sound basis, and that the process was grossly unfair. The board later rejected Ms Ruffley’s appeal without meaningfully considering evidence that locking the door had been common practice. The judge also found that it failed to address her solicitor’s subsequent complaints.
The judgment accepted medical evidence that Ms Ruffley’s anxiety and depressive disorder followed the events at the school and continued to affect her. The court awarded €75,000 for psychiatric injury to date and €40,000 for future injury. It also awarded €93,276.39 for agreed past loss of earnings and €47,000 for future loss of earnings. Judgment was entered for a total of €255,276.