A teacher made sick by mould who won a legal battle against Government after refusing to return to work at CedarBridge Academy has been offered a job back at the school.

Ulama Finn-Hendrickson's lawyer received an e-mail from the Attorney General's chambers yesterday asking if she wished to go back to work and if she had any objection to returning to CedarBridge.

Mrs. Finn-Hendrickson told The Royal Gazette she was happy to be assigned to any school except CedarBridge, where she became sick in autumn 2006, shortly before the school was shut down due to mould infestation. "I told him (her lawyer): 'no, no, no, no'," she said last night. "CedarBridge is very hostile. I was treated very badly, poorly, horribly."

A Supreme Court judge ruled on Friday after a judicial review that the Ministry of Education should not have stopped Mrs. Finn-Hendrickson's pay when she failed to return to the school after a $4 million clean up of mould in January 2007.

Her lawyer Paul Harshaw wrote to Government explaining she would not go back until satisfied it was safe but his letters were ignored.

Puisne Judge Ian Kawaley said the 55-year-old Jamaican reading teacher, who is married to a Bermudian, remained employed by the Ministry of Education. She is now owed back pay for the last 13 months of at least $90,000 and legal costs of more than $70,000.

Mr. Harshaw said: "The Ministry is reacting to the case quite sensibly and sensitively and they are asking if Mrs. Finn-Hendrickson has any objection to going back to CedarBridge.

"The appearances are that Government is going to take her back, they are not going to appeal and they are considering where they might assign her.

"My experience with Government in other cases and the Ministry of Education in other cases is that when they are persuaded that something has gone awry they react quite sensibly and I think that's what they are trying to do in this case."

He said he replied to the email confirming that his client wished to return to work but explaining there were some "residual issues" relating to her employment at CedarBridge.

Evidence given to the court during the review included correspondence relating to Mrs. Finn-Hendrickson being terminated on a previous occasion in early 2006 and later reinstated.

An e-mail sent from Dawn Ray, senior manager for human resources at the Ministry of Education, to CedarBridge principal Kalmar Richards reveals that decision was wrongly taken without Mrs. Finn-Hendrickson being told about concerns with her work.

Ms Ray wrote to Mrs. Richards that when she related negative feedback from deputy principals to the teacher she was "visibly shaken". "She shared that she had not received a formal evaluation and, as such, she had no idea as to the feedback you were receiving about her," wrote Ms Ray. "Kalmar, no doubt it is clear that the case of Ms Finn-Hendrickson has not been managed well."

Ms Ray wrote that the teacher recommended to replace Mrs. Finn-Hendrickson was no better qualified than her. "As the spouse of a Bermudian the HR department will be hard pressed to have anyone approved through Immigration when the claims against Ms Finn-Hendrickson appear to be less sound than originally anticipated."

Mrs. Finn-Hendrickson said last night that since the school had attempted to sack her twice she was especially reluctant to return. "Three times is the charm, isn't it?" she said.

Education Minister Randy Horton has said he will comment on the judgement when he has discussed the case with Ministry staff.