A teacher who was fired after writing a racy novel to help encourage literacy to her teenage class is now waiting to hear whether her claim for unfair dismissal has been successful; she alleges that her school governors broke employment law by sacking her.Ms Rustamova worked for Calder High School in Mytholmroyd until the school governors discovered that she had written a novel entitled ‘Stop! Don’t Read This’, with the purpose of promoting literature to her students. The novel’s story featured a number of characters based on real-life students, and was said to contain sexual references and expletives.
Three months ago, the General Teaching Council (GTC), which maintained teaching standards in the UK, said that Ms Rustamova was not guilty of any wrongdoing; therefore she may be protected by employment law.
Last week, the claimant and the respondents (the school governors) gave evidence to the employment tribunal. In light of the GTC findings, Ms Rustamova has brought a claim of unfair dismissal against her former employers.
The tribunal panel has reserved its judgement and it will now be a number of weeks before Ms Rustamova learns whether her claim has been successful.
‘The judge has reserved a decision and this will be notified to both parties in the near future,’ said a Tribunal Service spokesman. ‘It is likely to take several weeks.’
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