School subjected deaf member of support staff to disability discrimination and victimisation after requiring her to work on-site during pandemic, tribunal finds

Charlotte Bentley wins employment tribunal verdict after protracted dispute with Oaks Park High School in Redbridge, north-east London

A profoundly deaf member of support staff at a large local authority comprehensive in north-east London was subjected to disability discrimination, “lied” about by management and victimised after asking to be allowed to work from home during the pandemic, an employment tribunal has concluded.

Charlotte Bentley, who has worked at Oaks Park High School in Redbridge since 2015, became anxious and depressed after the school asked her to return to work on-site in September 2020, despite having a job which had not involved direct contact with pupils and which the tribunal heard could be carried out remotely.

The school, including its headteacher Joanne Hamill, had argued that government guidance had required all school employees to be back on site, when in fact it had allowed exceptions.

When the governing body partially upheld Ms Bentley’s grievance in response, and issued a string of recommendations including that the school via Ms Hamill apologise to its employee, these were not fully carried out by the school, the tribunal concluded.

Ms Hamill did not apologise on behalf of the school to Ms Bentley after this was recommended by the governing body, the tribunal found, and its report suggested that the school had still not carried out deaf awareness training in the months after this was recommended by its own governors.

The school told me in response that Ms Bentley, who still works at Oaks Park, has “throughout continued to be a valued member of the school’s staff,” and that it acknowledged the tribunal’s findings. However, it added that it was disappointed that the efforts of the senior leadership team, to balance the needs of individual staff against those of students and the school community as a whole, had not been recognised by the tribunal.

Below is a long-read piece on the details of this case. The tribunal report itself can be read here.