University’s Disciplinary Process ‘Not Negligent’

A senior university lecturer whose health and career suffered after she was accused of helping a colleague to create a false and misleading job reference has had her hopes of a substantial compensation payout dashed by the Court of Appeal.

The academic had eventually been exonerated of any wrongdoing following a highly stressful disciplinary hearing. However, she launched proceedings against the university arguing that, had it enquired into the matter as carefully as it should have done, the claims against her would have been abandoned at an early stage.

She initially won her case after a judge found that the disciplinary process had been negligently handled by the university. However, in overturning that decision, the Court ruled that it was ‘plainly wrong’. The judge’s criticisms of the university’s investigation were either misplaced or immaterial and managerial decisions had wrongly been put under the microscope with the benefit of hindsight.