Dismissed teacher carries Teaching Service Commission to court – 2nd Jan 2013

The Teaching Service Commission is being dragged before the courts in a case being brought by a dismissed teacher who believes the commission went way too far into her personal life to determine her suitability as a teacher.

The teacher was dismissed after private cellphone photographs surfaced with her topless and some in a nude state. The photographs were apparently taken out by the teacher in the comfort of her home and sent to her husband via phone who lives overseas.
The husband apparently had another woman on the side where he lived and that woman gained access to his phone and the photographs and decided to upload the photos to a social media website.

The photographs caught the attention of education officials and one very senior official decided to push for the teacher’s dismissal and the TSC followed that request and the teacher was fired.

The attorney for the teacher is contending that the TSC acted outside of its responsibility when it decided to fire the teacher for what was essentially a private matter between the woman and her husband and a situation that she was not directly responsible for, referring to the leaking of the photographs. If anything, she is the victim and became the victim twice another legal mind said.

This court case is expected to be an interesting one as it raises the issue of right to privacy in the social media age and an employer’s reaction when dealing with that privacy.