Straight teacher loses homophobic harassment claim
A straight Scottish teacher who tried to make a claim for homophobic harassment has lost his case.
James Campbell, who took early retirement in 2007 from his job as an art teacher at Denny High School in Scotland, claimed that the homophobic insults he received amount to sexual orientation discrimination, despite being straight.
But a tribunal in Glasgow rejected his claim that Falkirk council was responsible for the pupils’ behaviour. Campbell had attempted to claim they were “employees” of the council, STV reports.
The married teacher claimed that pupils called him”perv”, “gay”, “poof”, and “weirdo”, and that he no longer felt able to teach because of the abuse he had endured.
He also accused the school of failing to address his complaints.
Employment judge Robert Gall said: “The tribunal was satisfied that after applying tests to the status of pupils they were not employees.
“Unruly pupils and disciplinary issues are such that it is impossible to eradicate them altogether.”
He added that the school had taken steps to try and prevent the harassment.
Campbell had brought a previous disability claim to tribunal after arguing that jibes about his baldness had forced him to take early retirement. This case was lost on the grounds that baldness did not constitute a disability.
