A former Werribee Secondary College teacher who suffered a nervous breakdown after being forced to teach unruly students has won almost $770,000 in damages.
Peter Doulis, 48, sued the state government, saying he was allocated an unduly heavy workload of “feral” classes at the college between 1998 and 2004.
The Supreme Court heard that in 2000, the college divided its years 8, 9 and 10 classes into five streams – accelerated, high achievers, medium achievers, low achievers and foundation.
Mr Doulis, who now suffers chronic severe depression, argued his classes were made up almost exclusively of the school’s most challenging students, including those who suffered from a range of disabilities including autism, dyslexia and Asperger’s syndrome, and others who were very badly behaved.
He told the court that even before class, his students were “all hyper” and “virtually crawling up the walls outside the classroom”.
He claimed he once had to break up an incident in which a student was holding another student down and burning his jumper with a flame-thrower made from a deodorant can and a lighter.
Last Friday, Supreme Court Justice Timothy Ginnane ruled the school had breached its duty of care to Mr Doulis because it did not reduce the number of difficult classes he had to teach or support him when he returned to work.
Justice Ginnane awarded Mr Doulis damages for pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life and lost earnings.
Justice Ginnane found the government had a duty to minimise the risk of Mr Doulis suffering from depression by modifying or removing his teaching of the low and foundation classes.
Another hearing will be held later this month to determine how much Mr Doulis is entitled to for future loss of income.
