Swimming teacher sacked for telling girl 'it looks like you work out'

Gary Coleman was suspended by Doncaster Culture and Leisure Trust after he made the comment to a girl, when he was teaching 10 and 11-year-old pupils from a local primary school in September 2022.

The school then contacted the leisure centre operator to complain about the comment, claiming it was inappropriate and it made the pupil feel uncomfortable.

He was dismissed at a disciplinary hearing the following month for gross misconduct, as his employer said his “actions were a clear safeguarding concern”.

Mr Coleman took his case to an employment tribunal, claiming he had been unfairly dismissed as his comment did not raise any safeguarding issues.

After a recent hearing in Leeds, employment judge Daniel Sills said the decision to sack the swimming teacher “can be seen to be somewhat harsh” as he only made “a single remark” and it was his “first offence”.

But he also rejected the unfair dismissal claim, saying Coleman’s comment was “highly inappropriate” and it could be treated as a “safeguarding concern” because it was “capable of adversely affecting a child’s health and safety and well-being”.

“It is a comment made by an adult male in a position of trust to a female child aged 10 or 11 about that child’s body and physical appearance when the child was in swimwear and in front of other people,” he said.

“The comment demonstrates he had been observing her physical appearance.”

Judge Sills ruled the company’s decision to sack Coleman for gross misconduct was “in the range of reasonable responses”.

He said the swimming teacher had breached the company’s policy, with “a serious violation of health and safety practices” that “might bring the organisation’s name into disrepute”.

The judge also dismissed Coleman’s claim that he was wrongfully dismissed because he was not allowed to work a paid notice period.

“The claimant’s conduct amounted to a fundamental breach of the contract of employment and so the claimant was not entitled to notice of the termination of his employment,” the judge said.