Playground monitor fails in cash claim

Carol Hill, 62, lost her job at Great Tey Primary School in Great Tey, Essex, in 2009 and claimed unfair dismissal during a hearing in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.

Last month the three-strong panel concluded that Mrs Hill’s behaviour amounted to “gross misconduct” but said the school had not followed correct procedures when sacking her.

But members ruled yesterday that she would have been sacked in any event if correct procedures had been followed and she was therefore entitled to no compensation.

School head Deborah Crabb said four boys involved had explained that they were playing a game called “prisoners and guards”. She said the incident was not bullying but an “inappropriate game” which went too far.

Mrs Hill, who lives in Great Tey, claimed at a tribunal hearing in November 2010 that she had been wrongly dismissed.

The panel heard that Mrs Hill was suspended in June 2009 after telling the girl’s parents about the incident. She then told a local newspaper of her suspension and was dismissed by governors.

Members ruled in January that Mrs Hill’s actions “amounted to gross misconduct”. The panel met again to hear legal arguments as to whether Mrs Hill would have been sacked if the school’s dismissal procedure had been “fair”.

Mrs Hill’s lawyer, Claire Darwin, told the panel she had abandoned a claim for reinstatement and decided not to attend yesterday’s hearing.