Court rules that firing high school teacher for nude photos online was unjustified

The decision to fire a high school teacher for posting naked photos online was unjustified. According to the Court of Appeal in The Hague, the photos were a part of art and not pornography, and, therefore, the protestant-Christian school violated the man’s freedom of expression. The teacher will not get his job back, but he will receive 10,000 euros in severance pay. It has not been reported which school this pertained to.

The teacher started his job at the school in August 2023. He taught children from the age of 12 to 15. During his job interview, the man said that he also worked as an artist and photographer, but he did not state that he posed naked and that these images were online.

Students eventually discovered these images and shared them with each other. The man then decided to discuss this with the students. He showed a short film to a first-year class showing the man and his partner undressed.

The school decided to suspend the man and went to the subdistrict court to have him dismissed. The sub-district court sided with the school on this issue. According to the court, it was not pornographic, and also did not blame the man for discussing the existence of the photos with the children.

The court also stated that the video he showed was not as bad as the images that the students had already seen. Despite this, the mutual trust had been irreparably damaged.

The Court of Appeal disagrees with this. They feel the teacher should not have shown the children the nude video, but the school should not have suspended him instantly. This is why he will be awarded a fee of 10,000 euros.

The man does not work in the education sector anymore, he now works as a social worker.