The fine line between classroom discipline and teacher’s misconduct

When it comes to justified dismissal of staff at a school, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. Recent decisions of the Fair Work Commission highlight why the facts and details truly matter.

In deciding if an employee has been unfairly dismissed, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) considers the specific circumstances of each individual matter. Two recent decisions consider this in the context of dismissal of school staff for disciplining students in differing ways. Both decisions resulted in contrasting outcomes.

Teacher’s slap caught on video

In Jillian McLoghlin v St Columba’s College Ltd [2025],¹ a school lab technician was dismissed for “forcefully” slapping the hand of a student that was misbehaving.  The technician made an application for an unfair dismissal remedy. She admitted to slapping the 15-year-old student’s hand but claimed that the dismissal was a disproportionate response to her conduct and the dismissal process adopted by the school was unfair.

The student was packing up tools following a biology dissection lesson when the technician slapped her hand, claiming the slap was a reflex action to prevent the student from hurting herself on the scalpel. Another student had recorded the incident on a laptop.

The FWC found the slap was forceful as a loud smack could be heard in the video footage and the student recoiled and said, “Oh my God”. The FWC also found that the slap was not done with the intention of protecting the student as it would not make sense that the slap would prevent her from cutting herself. The slap was found to be entirely unwarranted, with the Commissioner stating:

‘In this day and age, it is difficult to imagine situations in which it would be appropriate for a teacher or a school assistant to slap the hand of a student, but if there are any such situations, this was not one of them.’

The FWC found the school had a valid reason to dismiss the technician and the dismissal process was fair. It was also noted that the technician maintaining that she was trying to protect the student reflected a failure to take full responsibility for her conduct. Taking these matters into account, the FWC concluded the dismissal was not unfair.

Can teacher’s shout at students?

In Paramjit Brownson v Australian International Islamic College Ltd [2025],² a school teacher was awarded maximum compensation after being unfairly dismissed for yelling at students. The Commissioner found it to be absurd to suggest that a teacher could be found to have committed serious misconduct simply because they had raised their voice towards misbehaving students.  It was outlined to be obviously unacceptable for a teacher to randomly yell at students for no reason or to unfairly target certain students, but this differs to the circumstances of this case where the teacher was imposing appropriate punishments on students that were clearly misbehaving.

The FWC considered evidence of students and other teachers and referred to the school’s Staff Code of Conduct.  The FWC found there was no valid reason for dismissal, noting that other staff had used similar disciplinary actions and there was no violation of the Staff Code of Conduct.

In considering any other relevant matters, the FWC considered that the dismissal of the teacher was driven by the college director’s resentment against the teacher for challenging his leadership in a previous incident. Therefore, although the school followed a reasonably thorough dismissal process, it was not enough to outweigh the other factors that supported the finding that the teacher was unfairly dismissed.

Reinstatement was found to be inappropriate in the circumstances. In determining compensation, the FWC considered the specific circumstances of the matter and that the teacher would have likely remained employed for a further 5 years if she had not been dismissed and was therefore awarded the maximum compensation of 6 months’ salary, amounting to $55,786.90 plus superannuation.³

Lavan’s comments

The FWC examined the individual circumstances of each of these cases, reflecting that outcomes can differ significantly depending on the specific facts. If you have any queries as to whether an employee’s conduct amounts to conduct justifying dismissal, please contact our experienced Employment, Safety and Education team.

Disclaimer

The information contained in this publication does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. You should seek legal advice in relation to any particular matter you may have before relying or acting on this information. The Lavan team are here to assist.

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