How Annan won the first round

By STUART DYE

The key to Alison Annan's fight to win her job back lies in the confused sequence of events of August 13.

Mrs Annan told the board she was going to resign - which the school maintains was a resignation.

But in her affidavit, Mrs Annan said board chairwoman Diana Grantham "asked me about when I wanted to resign and I replied, 'I can't think about it now; about the end of August maybe".

The Employment Relations Authority ruled that affidavit evidence showed key facts of the alleged resignation were disputed.

"The authority is not able to resolve these disputes at an interim stage.

"It is well established that the existence of such disputes indicates an arguable case."

Mrs Annan said unless she was reinstated her reputation would continue to be damaged and she would suffer significant financial harm.

Her pension status was also uncertain.

The school argued that it could not afford to pay both Mrs Annan and acting principal Jim Bennett.

The authority ruled that Mrs Annan had given an undertaking that the school could recover in damages any costs as a consequence of her reinstatement.

However, it was unlikely that damages would be able to repair any harm done to Mrs Annan's reputation.

School commissioner Dennis Finn argued that reinstating Mrs Annan would have a devastating effect on the school.

He said he had no confidence in the former principal.

But, said the authority, Mrs Annan sought reinstatement to the payroll only, and not a return to school duties.

"If Mrs Annan is successful ... and reinstatement is ordered it would be unfortunate if the effect of the authority's order at the interim stage were to undermine the primacy of reinstatement as a remedy."