Win: Vic and Linda Ross are celebrating the successful tribunal claim. Pic: © STV
A deputy headmistress who was sacked over alleged links to “inappropriate” clothing on her website has won her case for unfair dismissal.
Linda Ross unanimously won her employment tribunal case against Dundee City Council over its treatment of her three years ago.
Mrs Ross, 58, of Forfar, was dismissed from her post as deputy head teacher of Dundee’s Longhaugh Primary School in October, 2008, over what she described as “trumped up charges”.
The council sacked her for gross misconduct over “inappropriate” material linked to on her site, www.lindaross.co.uk.
Education bosses argued that content on her website, run by husband Vic, brought the profession and local authority into disrepute, although both she and her husband denied this at the employment tribunal earlier this year.
In March, Mrs Ross was struck off the General Teacher Council for Scotland’s register over the incident.
However, at the time she said that her teaching career was “history” and she wanted to concentrate on clearing her name at the employment tribunal.
Delighted
On Wednesday, Mr Ross, 66, announced that his wife had been unanimous in winning the unfair dismissal case.
He said: “All I can say is that I am absolutely delighted for my wife, at last justice has been served.
“I always maintained that the truth would prevail in the end. I would like to thank everyone who believed in us and gave us their support over the years.
”I'm ecstatic with the good news. We are off now to celebrate with family and friends.”
A remedy hearing at the employment tribunal in Dundee will be held at a later date, at which point the full decision on the case will be released.
The website was initially established in 2007 to help teachers who faced problems in the classroom, including violent attacks.
Once the website content came to light, the council suspended Mrs Ross before sacking her on October 29, 2008.
She unsuccessfully appealed the decision, before she took the local authority to an employment tribunal claiming unfair dismissal last year.
'Threatened by pupils'
Mrs Ross was initially suspended from a senior post at Dundee’s Sidlaw View Primary School in 2007 after her husband made public claims that teachers were being threatened by parents and pupils at the school.
A disciplinary process by the council followed, during which time an inquiry into the allegations found them to be “exaggerated”.
After her suspension, she was then placed at Longhaugh as depute head but the Sidlaw View controversy had barely died down when she was suspended again in June 2008 over the website.
Relations between her and the education department broke down entirely and she was fired for gross misconduct five months later.
