Teacher ‘bullied out of job by unruly pupil’ loses case against department

A North West teacher who claimed she was driven out of her job by a troubled pupil’s relentless bullying has lost her bid to have her resignation declared a constructive dismissal.

B Twala, who worked at Ramatu Secondary School, claimed she endured months of insults, threats and disruptive behaviour from the grade 9 pupil while the school’s leadership failed to protect her.

However, commissioner Joseph Mphaphuli found Twala had failed to prove her working conditions had become so unbearable that resignation was her only option.

Twala had taken her case to the Education Labour Relations Council after her resignation, saying she had been forced to leave the school due to the toxic environment she found herself in and the school’s inability or unwillingness to come to her aid.

She told the hearing the pupil had been verbally abusive towards her and other pupils and regularly disrupted classes and examinations.

Twala said she first raised concerns about his behaviour with the principal in April 2024, but little was done.

Matters escalated in August 2024 when she claimed the pupil assaulted other pupils. She again approached the principal and asked that he be removed from her class, but the principal allegedly refused.

The situation became so severe that the pupil’s guardian, a social worker and police were called to the school.

According to Twala, the pupil insulted her in front of the adults and refused to leave the school premises when instructed to do so. A police officer was eventually summoned, but the pupil remained at school.

Twala said the ordeal took a toll on her mental wellbeing and she sought help from a psychiatrist and a social worker.

The social worker advised her to approach the circuit manager for a possible transfer. The manager later visited the school and urged the principal to expel the pupil.

According to Twala, neither her transfer nor the pupil’s expulsion happened.

She alleged the pupil continued insulting her, assaulting other pupils and even threatened to slash her car tyres. She eventually took sick leave and returned to work in January 2025.

Twala said she returned to a more hostile environment, claiming other pupils joined the abuse after seeing nothing had happened to the pupil.

The teacher was later admitted for treatment and eventually resigned while on temporary incapacity leave.

However, Mphaphuli found major problems with her constructive dismissal claim.

A key issue was her resignation letter, which made no mention of bullying, a toxic workplace or unbearable working conditions.

Instead, she thanked the department and school leadership for their support and said she had “thoroughly enjoyed” her time at the school.

Mphaphuli said this seriously undermined her claim that she had been forced out by intolerable conditions.

The commissioner also noted the pupil had left the school by the time the teacher resigned.

Furthermore, Twala did not report the alleged misconduct by other pupils to the employer before resigning, depriving the school of an opportunity to intervene.

The commissioner said constructive dismissal carries a high legal threshold and requires an employee to show the employer’s conduct made continued employment objectively intolerable.

“It was evident from Twala’s own testimony that the pupil was no longer in the picture when she tendered her resignation.

“The department spared no effort in coming to Twala’s aid regarding her issue with the pupil, ranging from involvement by the social worker to circuit manager, police officer, school principal and the pupil’s guardian. The pressure, by implication, led to the pupil abandoning his studies. The pupil had disappeared from the scene five months before Twala’s resignation.”

He said Twala’s resignation was in the circumstances not influenced by the department’s failure to act or omission in circumstances where intervention was required.

The commissioner said Twala had failed to discharge the required burden of proof.

The application for alleged unfair dismissal was consequently dismissed.