Who is Andrea Mairs? Black teacher sacked over ‘relentless complaining’ about racial issues wins discrimination claims against school

A tribunal has approved claims from Andrea Mairs, a black primary school teacher at the Kings Road Primary School, that she had been unfairly dismissed from her job at the school two years ago.

In January 2022, Mairs was dismissed from her job as six of her fellow staff members claimed they felt “intimidated” by her “relentless complaining” about racial issues in the classroom.

Soon after her dismissal, Mairs filed a formal complaint against the school to the Liverpool Tribunal. According to the tribunal, the complaint was lodged for “unfair dismissal, race discrimination victimization, breach of contract notice pay and unlawful deduction of wages.”

Her claim about racial discrimination against the school was also proven to be true at the tribunal hearing.

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Andrea Mairs had worked at the school for two decades

As per her LinkedIn profile, Andrea Mairs graduated from The Manchester Metropolitan University with a Bachelor of Education - BEd, Primary school. She then joined the Kings Road Primary School - which comes under the Trafford Council - in September 2001 as a primary teacher.

Mairs had worked in the school for over 20 years and was also chosen for the responsibility of an experienced Mentor for the trainee teachers in 2008.

She was a “good teacher” who was “doted on” by students and parents alike, according to the Daily Mail. Her employment went smoothly for over 10 years without encountering any issues until 2019.

However, in July 2019, six of her colleagues, all members of the school’s senior leadership team (STL), raised a collective grievance against Mairs.

The incident, which led to the grievance, involved a magician’s visit to the school. Mairs had an objection to the magician addressing the students as “little monkeys,” which resulted in the word being banned from the school.

In the tribunal, Andrea Mairs admitted how, following her complaint about the magician incident, she was blamed by the other staff for the ban of the word, which created “tension” among her colleagues.

Mairs also reported being asked to work on the black history month to the tribunal. She felt that being asked to deliver black-related content, which should be the job of the school’s dedicated history co-ordinator, was a form of “micro-agression”.

When the SLT’s grievance was disclosed to Andrea Mairs, she was too “shocked” and “daunted” and decided to lodge her own complaint against the SLT four months later.

In her complaint, Mairs accused her senior staff of “blackophobia,” stating:

“[The SLT members] are unable to use the word ‘black’ which indicates how uncomfortable they are around their black colleague. This again is racial discrimination and more commonly known as blackophobia.”

Returning from almost a year-long sickness leave, when Andrea Mairs was ready to return to the school, the STL members objected, stating how Mairs had “instilled fear in colleagues,” making it difficult for them to work with her.

In January 2022, the school’s investigating panel concluded that Miss Mairs’ relationship with the SLT members had “irretrievably broken down,” on grounds of which she was being dismissed.

Her LinkedIn profile states that having being dismissed from Kings Road in January, Mairs joined Zen Educate – an online platform that connects schools with supply staff – in October 2022.

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The Tribunal concluded in Mairs’ favor

According to the Daily Mail, once the claims made by Andrea Mairs were upheld, Judge Jane Aspinell – the judge of the Liverpool Tribunal - stated:

“The Tribunal finds that Miss Mairs honestly believed that SLT motivation was because they were afraid that if they raised a concern with her she would accuse them of racism. This is what she meant by the use of term ‘blackophobic’.”

The judge continued:

“She honestly believed that SLT would not have lodged a collective complaint about matters in their grievance without having previously raised them with the individual teacher on a one to one basis, if that teacher had not been black.”

Tribunal is set to hold a remedy hearing for deciding Miss Mairs’ compensation between March and September 2024. Whether or not Miss Mairs will make a return to the Kings Road Primary School after the hearing remains to be seen.