A lecturer who was sacked after claims he behaved inappropriately towards a 19-year-old student has won a claim for wrongful dismissal.
Kirk Wood taught computing and eSports at Halesowen College near Birmingham, and was sacked for gross misconduct after the accusations were made.
The tribunal found that managers had taken the accusations “at face value”, although it was later revealed that a student had persuaded her boyfriend and two friends to fabricate claims about Wood.
He had joined the college in 2022 from another college where he had faced an investigation over safeguarding matters, the tribunal heard.
In a reference, the previous employer said it had found allegations to be substantiated, adding that it “would have dismissed the claimant had he not resigned.”
Wrongful dismissal
Wood told Halesowen that the accusations had been brought falsely, however, and the college decided to hire him nonetheless.
The student who made the accusations at Halesowen asked to be in Wood’s class, the tribunal heard, and told him that she had previously been sexually assaulted – something Wood then reported to his managers.
In February 2023, Wood was informed that a student had made an allegation against him, including claims that he had asked whether she was sexually active, had asked to go for a drink with her, and that he only approached female students in class during discussions.
The student also alleged that he tried to grab her phone and see her notifications and take photos, “consistently brought up his sex life and dating life”, and complained that he had trouble finding women who were interested in him.
The college launched a disciplinary process, which concluded that “on the balance of probabilities and given the wider context of the claimant’s previously reported behaviours”, Wood had abused his position of trust and should be dismissed immediately.
The tribunal concluded that the allegations had in fact been fabricated, and therefore Wood “did not conduct himself in a manner which amounted to gross misconduct and justified summary dismissal”.
In judgment, Judge Childe added that the college had taken Wood on in the knowledge of previous accusations.
He said: “I conclude that those allegations did not concern the respondent at the point the claimant was employed. Indeed, the respondent accepted in evidence that it was commendable that the claimant had raised this issue prior to joining the respondent.”
“I find that the college had not complied with its contractual obligation to fully investigate the circumstances of the allegations by not obtaining witness evidence.”
Halesowen College has been ordered to pay Wood compensation of £3,431.31, including his loss of notice pay, a sum to reflect the four-week period it would have taken to conduct the contractual disciplinary policy, and an uplift for breaching the Acas code.
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