Canadian Employment Law Today | 3
Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2016
Cases and Trends
Teacher wins in court but loses job
after controversy with former student
Teacher was acquitted of sexually assaulting former student
but was fi red for inappropriate communications with the girl
BY JEFFREY R. SMITH
A NEWFOUNDLAND and Labrador
school district wrongfully suspended with-
out pay a teacher following allegations of
improper communication with a young stu-
dent, but did have just cause to dismiss him,
an arbitration board has ruled.
Lloyd Whitehorne, 46, was a teacher in
an elementary school in Western New-
foundland. He was hired in 2004 and was
subject to the collective agreement between
the school district and the teacher's union.
e collective agreement had provisions for
disciplinary action that stated "any teacher
who is suspended or dismissed shall be pro-
vided written notifi cation with fi ve calendar
days" of the reasons for dismissal. e col-
lective agreement also stipulated that teach-
ers subject to an investigation could only be
suspended with pay before the investigation
reached a conclusion.
Whitehorne had a female student in his
Grade 5 class in the 2005-06 school year
who was the child of friends of him and his
wife. ey visited each other's homes and
Whitehorne's daughter was a close friend
of the student. In 2007, the former stu-
dent's family moved away, so the friendship
between Whitehorne's daughter and the
former student involved telephone calls,
occasional overnight visits, and instant
messaging on an online service linked to
users' email addresses.
In August and again in early September
2009, the former student — who was 13 at
the time — came for a visit at the White-
horne home. Some instant messages were
exchanged between the former student's
account and Whitehorne's account during
the visit. After that, the only contact White-
horne had with the girl was through a chance
meeting of the families in a shopping mall in
2009 and a dinner with the families at Easter
2010. Some electronic and telephone con-
tact between Whitehorne and the former
student continued until November 2009.
On Nov. 18, Whitehorne received an
email from a pastor who was a friend and
spiritual advisor of the former student. e
pastor said he had discovered instant mes-
sages that the former student had sent to
Whitehorne's messaging account using the
pastor's cellphone. e pastor felt these
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