A school principal who was dismissed for “assault” for lightly hitting his toddler son’s hand was unfairly dismissed, the court has ruled.
As Shelly-Ann Malabver-Goulbourne tried to get her three-year-old son to stop fiddling with a bottle of hand sanitizer in her office, she used two fingers to get his attention.
The teacher responsible for child safety, who witnessed the incident, accused him of harming his son and filed a formal complaint, resulting in his head suspension and a police call.
Despite police ruling that her actions were “reasonable punishment” by a parent, Ms Malabver-Goulbourne was found guilty of gross misconduct and dismissed.
He is now seeking compensation after an employment judge concluded there was no evidence of “physical punishment or assault” and ruled his dismissal was unfair.
Miss Malabver-Goulbourne was headteacher of Northwold Primary School in Hackney, east London, run by the Arbor Academy Trust.
teacher for years
It was said at the hearing that he had been a teacher for “many years”, joined the foundation in 2005 and had been president since 2017.
The incident occurred on January 17, 2022, while Ms. Malabver-Goulbourne was working late in her office.
“It was around 18.20 and [Ms Malabver-Goulbourne] The hearing was told that after meeting with the security officer, Ms Bhagwandas, he packed his belongings to go home.
“[Her] Two school-going children were with him in his office, waiting for him to take them home. [Her] Her youngest child, son J, who was three at the time, and her 11-year-old daughter were also in the room.
“J grabbed a bottle of hand sanitizer that was on the table. [Her] Her daughter told her she squirted some on the floor. [Ms Malabver-Goulbourne] “He took the disinfectant away.”
He had disinfectant in his eyes.
Labor Judge Julia Jones said: “I think it is likely that she then bent down to his level and talked to him about why he shouldn’t be playing with the hand sanitiser.
“When he did this he turned his face away from her and tapped the back of her hand with two fingers to get her attention so she would look at him to hear what he was saying.”
The court heard the little boy got hand sanitizer in his eye two weeks ago.
“Thanks to the knowledge of previous experiences [Ms Malabver-Goulbourne] “I wanted to talk to him again to make sure he understood that hand sanitizer is not a toy he should play with.”
Mrs. Bhagwandas then told the school principal that he should not harm her son and should talk to him instead.
Mrs Malabver-Goulbourne said she did not harm her son, all she did was touch him with two fingers to get his attention.
I filled out a concern form
But Ms Bhagwandas was “unhappy” with his response and filled out a “cause for concern” form to report a “security incident”.
“He stated that he witnessed in [Ms Malabver-Goulbourne] Hit J’s hand,” the court said. “He also said before doing this: [she] He told J that he was going to slap her and expressed that he didn’t care about Ms. Bhagwandas’ presence in the office.
“Mrs. Bhagwandas reported that the child was crying and she calmed him down.”
Her complaint led to Ms Malabver-Goulbourne being suspended, a disciplinary hearing being launched and the local authority and police being called.
The court was told that neither the council nor the police, who interviewed all of the headteacher’s children, felt further action was necessary, with officers concluding what he had done was “reasonable punishment”.
However, the trust continued its investigation into whether Ms Malabver-Goulbourne “assaulted a pupil/child while in a position of trust and on school premises”.
He was accused of causing pain
During the interview, Ms. Bhagwandas accused the school principal of inflicting pain on a child and said she was shocked by what happened and considered it a form of corporal punishment.
Mrs Malabver-Goulbourne defended herself by claiming that her actions were not designed to attract her son’s attention and harm him.
“[She said that] “When explaining inappropriate behavior to his child, he will say ‘this is wrong, we don’t do this’ and explain the reason or show appropriate behavior,” the court said.
In May 2022, the trust dismissed Ms Malabver-Goulbourne for gross misconduct.
Upholding the unfair dismissal claim, EJ Jones said: “It is the decision of this Court that [the Trust] There was sufficient evidence that she tried to prevent her child from being injured and addressed his behavior.
“There was no evidence that he used physical punishment or assault.”