Three former teachers at Southland Boys' High School will share a $164,000 pay-out for unjustified dismissal.
The trio took the Invercargill school to the Employment Relations Authority after it disestablished their positions from the start of 2019.
The authority said the restructure was genuine, but the school's consultation about the proposal was a charade.
Its decision said the three teachers were all assistant principals in 2015, but a new rector appointed in 2017 decided to do away with their roles.
Instead of four assistant principals, he wanted a single assistant rector with a further three management positions below that.
The authority's decision said relations between the assistant principals and the rector were fraught and not effective.
It said the plan to restructure and disestablish the assistant principal roles was not designed to remove the applicants from their jobs, but the board failed to provide the teachers with detail about the proposal and had predetermined that the plan was the right one.
"So whilst the restructure was genuine in that it was motivated by, and responded to, a perceived need and problem in the school, once the rector had settled on a solution, in the form of the proposed restructure, that was going to be the outcome. In short, the board did not have an open mind and consultation was a charade," the decision said.
It said the applicants deserved to be treated fairly and with more respect and, because the process was not fair, the teachers' dismissals were unjustified.
The decision said the teachers suffered because of the loss of their careers.
"They all felt levels of embarrassment and shame at what occurred and they all became isolated avoiding social interactions and activities. They were all emotionally drained and suffered from stress and anxiety, which manifested in sleeplessness for all and high blood pressure for two. And they each had financial pressure which disrupted their long term plans and their day to day life, again creating stress and anxiety.
The authority ordered the school to pay each teacher $28,000 compensation and $25,679 in lost pay with a further $1165 interest on that pay.
RNZ
