TEACHER CLAIMS WRONGFUL TERMINATION STRIPPED HIM OF HIS BENEFITS

A teacher who worked in the public education system for more than 20 years has found himself in ‘chronic poverty’ after he was fired from his position at the Eltham High School in 2015.

Three years later, Devon Liston, 56, said he has not been able to access any of his government benefits.

In an interview with the Jamaica Observer early last week, Liston, who was a music teacher at the institution, claimed that he was wrongfully dismissed after he hit a student with a microphone chord in November 2014, resulting in bruises to the child’s face and hand. However, the former teacher, who now juggles odd jobs to support his family, said charges brought against him by the school board were exaggerated in an effort to oust him.

“They have used a child as a scapegoat for my dismissal,” Liston protested.

“I disciplined the child for behaviour inconsistent with learning outcomes. They made it seem like it was some form of victimisation of the child, but it wasn’t one particular child in the behaviour. I admitted to the incident where I raised my hand and hit at the child, but I didn’t know of any cut above the eye or anywhere on the student. I attempted to hit at a group of students, but I was unaware that it had hit him, and the child did not report to me. It was after I managed to settle the class and began teaching that I realised that he went outside and came back in saying that I hit him,” Liston said.

The notice of termination sent by the school board to Liston noted that he had “used a piece of electrical wire to hit a student, causing injury to the face and hand’. Citing sections of the Education (Educations Regulations) Act (1980), the school board also charged Liston with ‘inefficiencies in the execution of duties” as well as irregular attendance.

However, Liston said that these discrepancies were “padded” by members of a personnel committee appointed by the school board to hear the charges brought against him.

“They would not recognise the sick leave I got from my doctor to verify my absence on the basis that they are dissatisfied with how the doctor had written it. And in another situation with the casual leave, they padded days to make it seem that I overstepped my bounds in that respect. When I took the calendar and looked at each day, there was at least one discrepancy when I was booked to be at school on a Sunday. So I guess that was done deliberately to make the days look like I had overstepped the number of prescribed times”, Liston said.

He also explained that, “At the time of my employment I would have been entitled to 12 days in the year. Teachers after my time would have had less based on the new regulations. I have been employed to the Government since 1990. The nine days allotment for teachers employed after 2003 does not apply to me. That was not taken into consideration.”

As for the charge of inefficiencies on the job, Liston argued that this was also questionable, presenting a small stack of substitution request forms with dates from 2013 to 2015, when he was asked to fill in for teachers who were absent.

“How am I an inefficient teacher while, at the same time, I was being issued with substitution requests? Normally you would not send an inefficient teacher to take care of class. Why would you send an inefficient teacher to take care of a class in the absence of another teacher”? Liston questioned.

He also claimed that the school board breached the proper procedures for the termination of teachers, arguing that although he had received notices from the school indicating that he had oversubscribed to his allotted days, he was not given proper warning and due process.

“I took the time to document some of the procedures from certain sections of the code and after letters of warning, they would have to follow up with a suspension if a behaviour has not changed. Then they would have grounds for termination. But to just take a one-off situation and then give a termination on the spot was a breach of my rights,” Liston said.

“The letters which they say are warning letters, which to my knowledge, they are letters just indicating the days I would have been absent from work, which warrants a suspension, not a termination. They overstepped to say those infractions are legal grounds for my termination,” Liston went on.

When the Sunday Observer contacted the Ministry of Education (MOE), Director of Communication, Colin Steer said that it is unlikely that a termination would result in any teacher losing his/her government benefits.

“Monthly statutory deductions from salaries of employees in any industry or sector are paid over to the receiving agency example NIS (National Insurance Scheme) and NHT (National Housing Trust). Pension is payable at pensionable age, usually 65, and NHT benefits are payable when an application is made to that agency and assuming all due payments are up to date. If there is a problem with his records at these agencies, it is unlikely that this has to do with his being fired,” Steer said.

“Similarly with regard to health insurance, this is usually paid by salary deduction — partly by the employee and partly by the employer. If you are not employed full time, or are self-employed you can arrange to pay your own health insurance from other income. There is no obligation on the part of any employer to continue paying health insurance once you have left their employ,” Steer continued.

However, Liston said that since he was fired in 2015, he visited the offices of the NIS as well as the NHT, and on separate occasions, he was told that there were no contributions sent from the Ministry of Education on his behalf.

“I went to NIS close to when I was terminated and they said they were not seeing any contributions sent from the ministry for me. I also visited the NHT recently and they said the same thing,” Liston said.

The husband and father said that his termination has radically reduced his ability to provide for his family.

“The termination took away everything. My family life has been altered in terms of our whole living condition. All of my benefits, pension, NIS, NHT, health benefits I have not been able to access. I have not visited the doctor or the dentist for over three years now, and that includes my family. I could not even cover my child’s fees for his CSEC exams. When my children were in school, they had to go on PATH to get the lunches and so on. Right now my son, my last child, is eligible for university and I cannot afford to cover his tuition. That is how grossly affected we are, and that is even putting it nicely,” Liston said.

In spite of his efforts to have his situation rectified, having contacted the Ministry of Education, the Jamaica Teaching Council, as well as the Governor General’s office, Liston said that he is hoping that due process will be on his side this time.

“I’m here still bearing it, just hoping that with due process, which has really been a long time, that whether natural justice or the justice system will realise where all this has led up to. I have not gone overboard to get justice. I am still trying to use the system to get that done.

“What I want for sure is my job back and my integrity, because when you dismiss a teacher in that fashion what you’re actually doing is, all my years of service from 1990 you have taken that away from me, so all my benefits — my NIS, my NHT, my health card — all of that have just disappeared within a split second. All I want is to be vindicated to the extent that the management of the school board sees that they have erred and I am reinstated. That’s my only need,” Liston said.

In the meantime, Liston admitted that although he was a disciplinarian in the classroom, he now regrets hitting the student.

“I am from the old school, in that I believe in discipline, but not to the extent that I would have taken any harsh measures against a person’s child. I just believe that to get my message across, the students have to be attentive. But since then I have been looking at the whole teaching profession and how we go about it and whether or not the old school way of doing things is useless or ineffective as compared to now,” Liston said.

“In fact, after the incident I started giving that same student more responsibilities. I realised that he liked to play the drum, and I gave him to the responsibility to be the person to take the drums out and in. That helped in his behaviour because he then started to move for front seat. He wanted to be one of the ones playing the drums and even started to silence anyone giving problems in the class. So, he changed, and I told the father about it and even when I mentioned the incident to him he said it’s alright man”, Liston said.

Nevertheless, the former music teacher said he has yet to land another teaching job, although he has tried several times.

“I have approached other learning institutions in terms of taking up a teaching position but they did not get back to me. I remember being asked if I had learned my lesson not to hit students, but I don’t know if that is what impacted my not getting the job,” Liston said.