A college lecturer who was sacked for staring at the “breasts and bottoms” of his female students claims he could not see because he was wearing the wrong contact lenses.
John Taylor, who taught in English at Grwp Llandrillo Menai in Wales, was dismissed following accusations from his teenage students that he would stare at their ‘tops and cleavage’.
Accusations came to light due to a tribunal hearing after Mr Taylor sued the college for disability discrimination.
The tribunal heard how a group of students, aged around 17, complained of Mr Taylor behaving “inappropriately” in class.
A student said she witnessed him staring at a girl’s breasts and another student’s “bottom” as she walked out of the class.
As reported by WalesOnline, the tribunal heard: “The students [said] that during the afternoon class [Mr Taylor] had behaved inappropriately towards them by entering their ‘personal space’ and staring at their tops and cleavage.
“They also said that they had seen [him] looking at their bottoms as they left the room for a break part way through the lesson.
“The students described how [Mr Taylor] set them work and then went around the class, appearing to look at their work but looking down their tops instead.”
Mr Taylor, who worked for the college for 23 years, was also given a warning back in April 2018, after he would emphasise the word “cock” when pronouncing a surname of a female student.
Complaints were made about Mr Taylor’s “hygiene” and some students said he was “making students fail”.
The college also found CD-roms on the site belonging to Mr Jones, that revealed “5,000 glamour images” of two “young female celebrities” with some featuring them in underwear or swimwear.
Mr Taylor suffers from type 1 diabetes, which he says also affects his eyesight, and combined with “old contact lenses”, he claims he “couldn’t stare at anything”.
He was dismissed for ‘inappropriate behaviour of a sexual nature’ in April 2019.
Employment Judge Robert Vernon, who was overseeing the tribunal, said he did not believe the disability was connected with his behaviour.
While concluding, he said: “It is more likely than not that [he] was consciously staring at the students’ bodies and that it was not connected, in any way, to his disability or any issues arising from it.”
Mr Taylor’s claims of discrimination on grounds of disability were dismissed but he succeeded with his other claims regarding breach of contract and failure to make reasonable adjustments due to his disability