A teacher who relocated more than 300 miles for a job is suing his council employers after he was sacked at the end of his first week.
Robert Burke began teaching at Auchenblae Primary School last October, but was dismissed after just five days in the job.
At a tribunal hearing yesterday Aberdeenshire Council claimed that they had received an “unsatisfactory” reference via a telephone call from Mr Burke’s previous employer which raised “serious concerns” relating to an incident involving Mr Burke.
He is suing the authority for breach of contract and wrongful dismissal and argued that he found it “incredible” that the council had taken the “spiteful” opinion on board “without any written evidence whatsoever”.
The tribunal heard that Mr Burke, from Oldham, had been offered the position in September which included a relocation package of up to £8,000 and that he had taken up the post after passing all the relevant reference and security checks on October 2, 2017.
The position was a fixed term contract to cover for maternity leave and was to last until July 6, 2018.
Mr Burke’s salary was not agreed at his interview.
While giving evidence, HR advisor for the council Louise Fife said it was “normal practice” to approach previous employers to find out what level of pay they had been on so as to then “place them on the correct salary placement”.
She said that it was after contacting Mr Burke’s previous employer, Wendy Fish who runs the Westminster International School in Pisa, that the council took the decision to terminate Mr Burke’s contract “immediately”.
However, a contract of employment was sent out to Mr Burke three weeks after his dismissal and it stated his fixed term contract date was only for one week.
The council’s representative Robin Taylor agreed this had probably been “generated automatically” and was not a direct attempt to falsify the document.
Mr Burke argued that there had been no evidence of gross misconduct on his behalf and that the council had given a “knee-jerk” reaction to Mrs Fish’s phone call.
He revealed that he had won a tribunal case taken against his former employer for unfair dismissal.
Mr Burke said: “I think Aberdeenshire Council just expected me to sign the contract and send it back to them to say I would accept it. I didn’t accept it and I went to meet a member of the HR department to show them evidence of my tribunal decision against Mrs Fish for unfair dismissal – which I won.”
A ruling is expected to be made next month.
