A sick teacher with a mould allergy whose pay was stopped after she refused to return to CedarBridge Academy has won her legal battle against the Ministry of Education.

Ulama Finn-Hendrickson took Government to the Supreme Court when it stopped her salary without warning in January 2007 after she took ill from her job as a reading teacher at the Island's largest public school.

Puisne Judge Ian Kawaley ruled on Friday that she should have been told disciplinary action was being taken against her for not going to work once the mould-infested school was cleaned up at the end of 2006.

The 55-year-old mother-of-four told The Royal Gazette last night she expected the judgment to go her way.

"All I was hoping was that they would put me to a different school. They could have reassigned me. I am one person who doesn't want to miss work."

Mr. Justice Kawaley's conclusion in the judicial review means Mrs. Finn-Hendrickson, who suffered headaches, sinus problems and fainting fits, keeps her job as a teacher and is owed 13 months of back pay and expenses from the Ministry, totalling at least $90,000.

Government must also fund her legal costs of more than $70,000 — meaning taxpayers will have to stump up in excess of $160,000 for the case.

The final bill could be even higher as Mrs. Finn-Hendrickson, a Jamaican who started work at CedarBridge Academy in 2000, is understood to be considering seeking damages in a private action against the Ministry.

She is one of a number of teachers who claim the indoor air quality at CedarBridge made them ill but she is the first to take the Ministry to court, as other staff members eventually returned or were sent to other schools.

Mrs. Finn Hendrickson, a teacher for more than three decades, said she felt unable to go back to CedarBridge as colleagues still became sick in early 2007 after a clean-up costing $4 million.

"I was as fit as a horse when I came to Bermuda; I didn't have any allergies," she told The Royal Gazette. "I am still not right. It was a bad experience and an experience that was badly handled."

The Ministry of Education was found to be in the wrong by Mr. Justice Kawaley because it ignored two letters from the teacher's lawyer explaining that she would not return to CedarBridge — which was shut down for two months for the clean up — until she was convinced it was a safe environment. Mr. Justice Kawaley said those letters were met with "deafening silence".

A third letter after her pay was stopped, warning that she intended to take legal action, also went unanswered. The judge said the Government's defence that it took her absence from school as a resignation was not credible.

His judgement explained that Mrs. Finn-Hendrickson, who is married to a Bermudian, advised through her lawyer that she would not return to CedarBridge unless satisfied it was safe and never said she was unavailable to work at another school. The Ministry did not ask her to attend an alternative site before stopping her pay.

Mr. Justice Kawaley found that the Ministry breached the Public Service Commission Regulations and did not follow disciplinary procedures laid out in the collective agreement between Government and teachers, an error which the judge said "may entitle the applicant to seek compensation in damages".

The teacher's lawyer Paul Harshaw said: "My client is delighted that the judgment confirms that which she has always believed; namely that it is wrong for the Government to simply stop someone's pay without any warning or explanation."

Education Minister Randy Horton said yesterday: "While I am aware of the ruling as it relates to this case, it is not my intention to comment on this matter until I have completely reviewed it with my technical staff."