A headteacher at a Catholic school who bullied and harassed staff could now be struck off the teaching register.
Catherine Maltbaek has been accused of berated staff in front of pupils, causing several to quit the school in fear of suffering mental breakdowns.
An earlier employment tribunal heard how Maltbaek enacted a campaign of harassment described as “the worst case of bullying ever seen in the workplace”.
She was found to have regularly humiliated teachers for eating at the desks and using the toilet too often, and repeatedly rang a bell in deputy head Sue Preston’s ear “like a town crier”.
At the earlier tribunal in 2006, Preston won £56,000 for constructive dismissal after she was forced to quit her post at the Plymouth school in October 2005, stating that Maltbaek had made her life “a total misery”.
Maltbaek now faces sanction from the General Teaching Council for unacceptable professional conduct and could be struck off the teaching register, the Daily Mail has reported.
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The eight-day hearing has already heard evidence from Preston and will also hear from a school secretary who fainted during one of Maltbaek’s tirades.
Kate Corner quit as school administrator in 2004, claiming the headmistress would often “bellow at her with a red face and blistering eyes”.
