Veteran Hong Kong teacher fired and who lost pension over 2019 unrest Facebook posts wins appeal against ‘harsh and oppressive’ decision
- Judge rules decision to sack Toffee Tam was ‘so harsh and oppressive’, it must have involved ‘some error of law’
- Tam, a teacher for more than 25 years, mounted a legal challenge after she was sacked over anti-police online posts during 2019 civil unrest
A Hong Kong teacher fired over offensive comments about the police force during the 2019 anti-government protests has won a court challenge against her dismissal.
Mr Justice Russell Coleman of the Court of First Instance overturned the sacking in a judgment released on Friday and ruled the punishment, which included loss of pension rights, was unduly oppressive.
“I am satisfied that the punishment of dismissal without benefits is so harsh and oppressive in the overall circumstances that its imposition must have involved some error of law,” he said in the written judgment.
The legal challenge was mounted by Toffee Tam Yuk-fun, who was a teacher at the Jockey Club Government Secondary School in Kowloon Tong.
Tam, who spent 27 years in the profession, was fired last July and stripped of retirement benefits after an internal inquiry found her guilty of misconduct.