The ERA strikes again...

Alison Annan, the controversial principal of Cambridge High, publicly announced her resignation and had it accepted by the Board. Now she has gotten her job back as the result of an decision by the Employment Relations Authority. The report seems to think that she won reinstatment on the grounds that her original decision to resign was merely only a declaration of intention to resign and that she never actually resigned.

However on fuller examination, her lawyer, being more rational, merely argued that her dismissal was constructive. The authority has accepted her laywer's submissions as "arguable" and a result ordered her interim reinstatement until a full hearing in October. This makes the authority's actions somewhat more credible and as a condition of her reinstatement, she is not allowed near the school unless the Commissioner asks her to (which the Commissioner has said won't happen).

However the result of Annan's initial legal success has gone to her head. Before she only wanted reinstatement so that she could respond to the ERO report. Now it's:

"I am determined to prove at the full hearing that I should be restored to my full duties as principal of Cambridge High School," said Mrs Annan.

"I believe that the best interests of the school will be served by my return. I am confident that I can work with the Commissioner and a new Board."

While I have a low opinion of the ERA, I doubt that they are so witless as to order a full reinstatement.