The High Court set aside a summons requiring a teacher to attend a Stage 4 disciplinary meeting, ruling that the investigation underlying it breached his constitutional right to fair procedures.
Mr Justice Eagar found that Graphite Recruitment HRM Ltd’s investigation did not allow Michael Lyons to cross-examine the colleague who had accused him of bullying. The court said that safeguard was vital where an investigation could affect a person’s good name or employment and could lead to dismissal.
The complaint was made by a fellow teacher, Michelle Spence. The investigation upheld allegations concerning four incidents in 2015, including the handling of an art plan and community arts project, an interaction at a staff meeting and use of a school camera. Other allegations were not upheld. The report concluded that repeated inappropriate behaviour by Mr Lyons had undermined Ms Spence’s dignity at work.
The Education and Training Board adopted the report after Mr Lyons’s procedural appeal was rejected. In August 2016, its chief executive told him to attend a Stage 4 meeting to determine whether disciplinary action should follow. The judicial review challenged the decision to summon him on the basis of the investigation’s findings.
The court held that the investigation failed to provide fair procedures, including the opportunity for legal representation and cross-examination. It said a finding of bullying made through a constitutionally sound process could be serious enough to warrant a Stage 4 process, without first using Stages 1 to 3. But the findings in this case did not provide a constitutionally sound basis for the proposed hearing.
The court therefore set aside the summons to the Stage 4 meeting. It did not decide what disciplinary sanction, if any, would be appropriate; that was a matter for the chief executive. The judgment did not make a new finding on the bullying allegations.