A teacher faced a disciplinary process over allegations that she had used her position to gain an unfair advantage for her son who was a Leaving Certificate student at the school she worked in.

The complaint arose out of an alleged unwarranted representation made by her, in relation to her son’s subject-level choice in Irish. Following the complaint, the principal provided a report to the Board of Management alleging stage 4 misconduct, which amounted to the most serious form of misconduct.The plaintiff claimed that the report from the principal was flawed and unfair, and therefore the process itself was also flawed. She further claimed the principal was biased and the board had wrongfully considered the report at the meeting before it received a response from the plaintiff.

In granting the injunction, Dignam J was satisfied that the plaintiff had established a fair issue in that the principal’s report was defective. The judge noted the effect of much of the language in the report would be to convey to board members that the principal, who they entrusted with running the school, has already found wrongdoing.

He was satisfied that the process had gone irremediably wrong based on the report even though the board had not considered the report.

Employers must have regard to the procedural fairness involved in a disciplinary process. The courts have illustrated that interlocutory relief will be granted where the plaintiff can show that the disciplinary process has gone irremediably wrong, i.e. that the process is flawed and therefore there is a serious risk that the process has gone irremediably wrong.