Teacher at Prince Harry’s prep school wins tribunal payout after ‘falling asleep’ at desk
A teacher at the Prince of Wales and Duke of Sussex’s alma mater has won almost £170,000 in compensation after he was sacked for falling asleep after eating a “big lunch”.
Jason Smith successfully sued Wetherby Prep School for unfair dismissal and claimed he was made to feel like a “disease” by senior staff at the school in Notting Hill, central London.
He was accused of falling asleep at his desk on two occasions and failing to inform the school of multiple absences.
In testimony provided to an employment tribunal, Anna Dingle, Wetherby’s former deputy head teacher, said Mr Smith made “various excuses” for being caught asleep during the school day.
A hearing in central London heard that Mr Smith “said he had Covid. He said he was a deep thinker and closed his eyes in order to think, and he was not leading the lesson. And he said he had a big lunch”.
An employment judge concluded that the prep school teacher had been dismissed “without being heard”, and that his bouts of both sleep and absence were largely a result of mental health issues.
Judge Lewis ruled that the incidents were the result of Mr Smith’s anxiety and depression and that “his absence record was almost entirely due to his disability”.
The teacher’s claims of unfair dismissal and discrimination arising from a disability were upheld and he has been awarded £168,441.30 in compensation.
Mr Smith, who joined Wetherby in 2006, was found to have had a “glowing” record at the school until he suffered a “breakdown in his personal relationship” in 2020.
A classroom observation at the £28,500-a-year school said his pupils’ “enthusiasm was infectious” and that the “learning atmosphere was excellent”, while he was found to have a “good attendance record” for 14 years.
Mr Smith’s first absence for mental health issues was in January 2020, with the teacher recording 18 sick days over the subsequent three months.
He was referred to occupational health and Mr Smith was found to have an underlying condition of anxiety and depression and suffered from poor sleep as a result.
The teacher was then signed off work but asked to return in June 2021 with a formal “fit for work” note.
The tribunal heard Mr Smith returned to work in September 2021 without a formal note, and was upset to learn that he was the only staff member not to have a weekly timetable or allocated desk space waiting for him.
Ms Dingle messaged him asking if he was alright, with Mr Smith replying: “Yep, just slept badly and have no idea what I’m doing at the moment as regards to my job as I have no table, and feel like I have no purpose.”
‘Volatile and emotional’
After he was given a reduced workload, the school carried out three occupational health reports which claimed Mr Smith’s mood was “volatile and emotional” and that parents had complained about his treatment of pupils.
They said on two occasions he was found “asleep at school” and he also failed to inform the school of absences.
Mr Smith disagreed with the allegations and said he had missed calling into work because he felt unwell, adding that his mood had been “exacerbated” by poor treatment from senior staff at the school.
A subsequent investigation found Mr Smith had been asleep for approximately 10 minutes during a lesson in February 2022 and he had previously fallen asleep on several occasions in front of boys or staff.
He was sacked on “grounds of ill-health” in July 2022, and told that “despite the best efforts of all concerned, your continued absence is having a detrimental impact on the school and the children, and your behaviour when in school falls below the standard expected”.
The employment judge said Mr Smith was given “no opportunity to comment on the investigation report. He had not even known that the investigation meeting was an investigation meeting which could feed into a dismissal process”.
“Sleeping at work was also clearly due to the medication and sleep disruption caused by his anxiety. We understand that [Mr Smith] had no self-awareness that he was sleeping at work,” she added.
The judge said Mr Smith is currently planning to “recover in Australia” but hopes to return to the UK to resume his career.