Student's 'vengeful' false claims saw lecturer fired

The judge said it was likely the student made the allegations "falsely as revenge"

A college lecturer was wrongfully sacked after students made false allegations he asked a female class member out for a drink, an employment tribunal has found.

Kirk Wood, a lecturer in e-sports at Halesowen College in Dudley, was dismissed for gross misconduct in March last year after a 19-year-old student made the accusation.

This was one of a string of allegations levelled against Mr Wood which employment judge Robert Childe labelled "illogical, outlandish, contradictory and inconsistent".

In his written judgment, the judge concluded Mr Wood had been wrongfully dismissed and ordered the further and higher education college to pay him £3,431 in compensation.

'Taken at face value'

According to the judgment after the hearing in Birmingham, the 19-year-old student had made the allegations together with her boyfriend, in which they made a series of further allegations about Mr Wood.

This included claims he asked her whether she was sexually active with her boyfriend, that primarily he only spoke to female members of the class, and that he was passive aggressive.

The couple also said he was sarcastic towards the pair when he found out they were dating and regularly made references to his own sex and dating life.

It was also alleged at the West Midlands Employment Tribunal that Mr Wood had raised a chair above the students' heads and thrown bottles at a student - claims the judge concluded were "quite fanciful".

The allegations, which the judge also found were "fabricated", were contained in an email in February 2023.

Judge Childe said he also found that evidence provided by the students "was not tested" by the college, but "simply taken at face value".

'Stormed out of class'

The tribunal heard that prior to those accusations, the female student disclosed information to Mr Wood, which led to the teacher recording a safeguarding concern on the college system.

She was also said to have "stormed out" of his classroom one day after Mr Wood refused her request to tell students in the class to stop talking about the League Of Legends video game.

Judge Childe said: "I find that it is more likely than not that [she] was unhappy that the claimant had raised safeguarding concerns about her, which the respondent (the college) had subsequently taken up with her family.

"I add to this the fact that (she) was known to be a student with challenging attitudes and behaviours and conclude that it is likely (she) was a student who would raise the allegations falsely as revenge for what she perceived to be the claimant interfering in her home life and also because he had not followed her instructions in class.

"(She) would have known that the allegations were potentially career ending for the claimant as a teacher."

College rejected appeal

The judge also found there was motivation for her boyfriend to not tell the truth as the pair were together "and it is more likely than not that he was persuaded by her to go along with her story".

Judge Childe found the allegations were made up and concluded Mr Wood "did not conduct himself in a manner which amounted to gross misconduct and justified summary dismissal".

According to the judgment, Mr Wood requested that four witnesses who supported his case be interviewed as part of the college's investigatory and disciplinary process, and also asked that relevant notes he recorded on the college's systems about the 19-year-old girl be provided.

However, the tribunal found Halesowen College failed to carry out interviews or provide Mr Wood's requested information, before dismissing him.

In March 2023, Mr Wood - who began teaching at Halesowen College in August 2022 - was "summarily dismissed" for gross misconduct.

He launched an appeal against the decision but it was rejected by the college.

But at the tribunal hearing, Mr Wood successfully claimed wrongful dismissal in relation to dismissal with no notice where it is not justifiable and in relation to dismissal in breach of a contractual disciplinary procedure.