A teacher at a prestigious private school attended by Prince Harry and William has won almost £170,000 in compensation after he was sacked for falling asleep at his desk.
Jason Smith insisted he dozed off because he had eaten a big lunch and told bosses he was not asleep and was instead a deep thinker who closed his eyes in order to think.
The Notting Hill school teacher struggled with anxiety and depression which impacted his ability to attend work and said he was made to feel like a disease by the management team at Wetherby Prep School for Boys.
The teacher said staff at the school exacerbated his mental health struggles and he was eventually sacked after bosses said a spout of absences were having a detrimental impact on the establishment.
Mr Smith successfully sued bosses for unfair dismissal after an employment judge ruled he was dismissed without being heard.
Jason Smith, a senior teacher at the prestigious Wetherby Prep School for Boys attended by Prince Harry and William has won almost £170,000 in compensation after he was sacked for falling asleep at his desk. Pictured: The young royals in 1989
He has now been awarded £168,441.30 in compensation.
The hearing in central London was told Mr Smith began working at Wetherby Prep school for boys in September, 2006.
The Notting Hill establishment describes itself as one of the most sought-after prep schools in London and has been attended by Princes William and Harry, as well as Romeo and Cruz Beckham.
The teacher had a glowing record at the school and the tribunal said the results students achieved in his sets were excellent.
Mr Smith was described as being passionate about the well-being of the boys and a classroom observation of his students said their enthusiasm was infectious and the learning atmosphere was excellent.
In January 2020, the teacher suffered a breakdown in his personal relationship and as a result of this, he was off sick intermittently for a total of 18 days in the first three months of the year.
He was referred to occupational health and the teacher was found to have an underlying condition of anxiety and depression - and suffered from poor sleep due to his mental health.
He was signed off work but asked to return in June 2021.
Anna Dingle, deputy head and designated safeguarding lead at the school, told Mr Smith that he required a formal fit for work note before he could return and she said the matter was now in the hands of the schools head office.
The teacher spoke to the head of HR at Alpha Group Limited, who runs the school, on the telephone and was told that other staff at the school had done an amazing job so far in dealing with him.
EJ Lewis said: This comment upset [Mr Smith] because he did not feel they had done an amazing job and the wording made him feel like he was a disease which they had finally been able to rid themselves of.
He said the schools head, Mark Snell, had not called him once to see how he was doing and during the summer holidays in 2021 none of his colleagues contacted him.
Mr Smith successfully sued bosses for unfair dismissal after an employment judge ruled he was dismissed without being heard
In September, at the new school year began, he returned to work without notifying the school.
The tribunal said: As far as he was concerned, he had made it clear at the end of the summer term that he wanted to return.
His doctor had told him it was unnecessary to provide a note stating he was fit to return, because he had no longer been signed off as unfit for work..
But, all staff except Mr Smith were given a weekly timetable and no return to work meeting was held.
The following morning, the teacher did not go into work as he was upset that there had been no timetable and no allocated desk space waiting for him.
Miss Dingle messaged him asking if he was okay and in response he said Yep, just slept badly and have no idea what Im doing at the moment as regards to my job as I have no table, and feel like I have no purpose.
He went back into school later that day where he was given a timetable which included a number of adjustments to reduce his workload.
Throughout that month, Mr Smiths mood was up and down and the tribunal said he was tearful at school and complaining about his treatment by management in the staffroom.
Another occupational health report was carried out and Miss Dingle highlighted several incidents that had occurred in the last 16 days.
She said his mood was both volatile and emotional and parents had complained about his treatment of the students.
They said on two occasions he was found asleep at school, and he also failed to inform the school of his absence.
The teacher disagreed with the allegations in the referral letter and said he had missed calling into work because he felt unwell, and the volatile and emotional mood had been exacerbated by how he had been treated by the school.
It was advised Mr Smith was not fit for full hours or duties at present and a phased return to work was recommended.
The teacher returned to work in January 2022 but the following month it was reported by two members of staff that Mr Smith had fallen asleep in class.
When this was put to him, he said this was not true and he was only resting his eyes.
In March 2022, the teacher was invited to an investigation meeting where he was told that falling asleep in class was unacceptable and this was not the only occasion.
The tribunal said Mr Smith gave various excuses.
The teacher had a glowing record at the school and the tribunal said the results students achieved in his sets were excellent prior to his dismissal
He said he was a deep thinker and closed his eyes in order to think, and he was not leading the lesson. And he said he had a big lunch, the tribunal said.
In the following few days, staff members reported concerns over Mr Smith and said he was being too harsh on the boys.
An investigation report found Mr Smith had been asleep for approximately 10 minutes during a lesson in February 2022 and he had previously fallen asleep on three occasions in that academic year in front of boys or staff.
It discussed his failure to follow absence protocol and said parents pay high fees and expect proper teacher cover.
In July 2022, Mr Smith was sacked on grounds of ill-health.
He was told that despite the best efforts of all concerned, your continued absence is having a detrimental impact on the school and the children, and your behaviour when in school falls below the standard expect of an employee of Alpha Plus.
But, EJ Lewis said Mr Smith was dismissed without being heard.
She said: He had had no opportunity to comment on the investigation report.
He had not even known that the investigation meeting was an investigation meeting which could feed into a dismissal process.
She continued: We agree that these matters arose in consequence of [Mr Smiths] disability.
His absence record was almost entirely due to his disability.
Sleeping at work was also clearly due to the medication and sleep disruption caused by his anxiety.
We understand that [Mr Smith] had no self-awareness that he was sleeping at work.
Mr Smiths claims of unfair dismissal and discrimination arising from a disability were upheld. Other claims were dismissed.
The judge said Mr Smith is currently planning to recover in Australia but ultimately hopes to return to the UK to resume his life and career over here.
On the compensation, EJ Lewis said: [Mr Smiths] dismissal hit him hard and caused a great deal of injury to his feelings specifically for that reason.
Teaching is [Mr Smiths] vocation.
He was good at it. He loved his job at the school, which he had held for 15 years.
He proudly showed his brother the school on one of the latters visits to London.
Dismissal has deprived the claimant of that job satisfaction and sense of purpose and worth.