A TEACHER who claimed she was selected for redundancy from a Co Derry primary school because she was a Protestant has won an award of £8,250 in a Fair Employment Tribunal case.
Julie Brudell lost her post as a teacher of P3 or third class primary students last year at Ballykelly school after it decided to select four of its 15 teachers for redundancy, according to the North’s Equality Commission which supported Ms Brudell in her tribunal case.
Ms Brudell subsequently was offered and accepted a separate post in the school’s nursery unit where she still works. She said yesterday she was “devastated” that she was selected for redundancy from the P3 teaching post.
Of the 15 teachers, 10 were Protestant and five were Catholic but of the four selected for redundancy, all were Protestant. The tribunal found that Ms Brudell “suffered an act of discrimination on the ground of religious belief”.
The case was taken against the board of governors of Ballykelly Primary School and the Western Education and Library Board.
The tribunal in reaching its decision examined how, while a state-controlled school, the majority of pupils were Catholics. In reviewing the evidence it stated: “It is clear that there was an awareness that the Roman Catholic pupils now outnumbered the Protestant ones, that the school had lost so many children already, and ‘would lose even more depending on who was made redundant’.”
The tribunal said it recognised that the school’s board of governors “were led into error by their perception that fair employment legislation did not apply to the process in which they were involved”.
The tribunal found that “their overriding interest was to protect and secure the school’s future viability”.
