'I was called curry lover and humiliated by other teachers': The toxic truth about staffroom bullying
'I was called curry lover and humiliated by other teachers': The toxic truth about staffroom bullying
Sky News exposes the scale of staff-on-staff bullying at UK schools from more than 320 current and former teachers. Some have suffered a devastating emotional toll and were paid thousands to "keep quiet".
When Maya* started a new teaching job, she did not expect to be called the n-word as she walked down the corridor.
The bullying from her fellow teachers proved relentless. She was called a "curry lover" and believes she was hidden from meeting parents at one point due to her skin colour.
It was not just racism she faced there but also sexism. Male colleagues told her she would have to "bend over a desk to get a promotion" and had "blowjob lips". Incidents like these happened "almost every day", she says.
Eventually forced to leave her job, Maya signed a Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA) making her unable to speak about the abuse she suffered. As part of the conditions of her exit, she also received a significant payout, which she describes as "money to keep quiet".
100% curry lover here. Every type of curry is delicious, and any person who uses it as an insult is obviously unbelievably dull and parochial.
117Truth right here. I’ve been privileged to travel the world and curries are hands down the most flavourful dishes this planet has to offer.
12It’s like someone calling you a spice lover
It’s like telling on yourself.
4Oh yeah? Well I bet you like ice cream too, ya fucking degenerate!
3
I wish more people would know that NDAs can never cover illegal actions, such as workplace harassment and discrimination. You have a right to speak out. Please use your voice, the boat was already rocked when they discriminated against you.
110As part of the conditions of her exit, she also received a significant payout, which she describes as “money to keep quiet”.
In lots of countries the payout is contingent on the NDA.
Violate the NDA, they take the money back.
So they can't legally stop someone from talking, but there's an incentive to following the NDA.
34Best to talk to a lawyer for specifics, but like non-compete agreements, NDAs often include things that can't legally be enforced. The people wanting you to sign the NDA just hope you don't know better and you'll shut up.
If you know better, you can take their money and then disclose the facts anyway.
12In the US the clawback itself is no longer legal if it is part of a severance agreement. They can’t take the money back if you talk about them
FYI
As is often the case, when a presidential administration changes, so may a prior rule issued by the National Labor Relation Boards (NLRB or the Board). On February 21, 2023, the Board returned to its pre-Trump administration rule: broad confidentiality and non-disparagement terms in severance agreements will be deemed unlawful if they tend to interfere with, restrain, or coerce an employee's ability to speak about the severance agreement or otherwise communicate with other employees about their former employer. The prior Trump-era rulings allowed employers to include confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses in severance agreements, but the NLRB's latest ruling in McLaren Macomb reverts to the old rule placing employers in an uncertain situation with their current and future severance agreements.
1
I don't understand 'curry lover' as an insult, but I really don't understand it in the UK where curry is super popular.
I bet the teachers who call her 'curry lover' also 'go out for a curry' all the time.
57Chicken tikka masala is literally the national dish. I don't get it either.
21Racists idiots being ignorant, illogical idiots? What else is new?
9"ooh look at me I want to eat dry toast"
7They might cover it in canned beans or an entire hock of ham if they are feeling adventurous.
2
The ones saying it likely rarely have non British food
4I'm pretty sure you can't live to retirement eating boiled steak and kidney pie. Remember, even fish and chips is an imported food. Their national beverage comes from halfway across the world. I'm pretty sure the only reason the British did so much conquering is because anything was better than staying home. And, of course, eating any of these things doesn't preclude you from being a bigot. Bigots aren't often known for their critical thinking skills.
2
Bullying often comes out of jealousy or insecurity. Seeing the British cuisine, I understand people being jealous of healthy and flavor rich dishes.
Doesn't change the fact that bullying, discrimination and racism is disgusting and only shows how low and weak people can be.
25Maya signed a Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA) making her unable to speak about the abuse she suffered.
I'm pretty sure such an NDA would be invalid here (EU), an NDA cannot legally prevent you from disclosing experiences of abuse regarding your own person.
But inUSAUK the rules are made mostly for the rich, and in this case, the school is richer than the teacher.21Another Brexit success story
14Yes I warned strongly against Brexit, explaining how it would be bad, and have no real benefits for UK.
I especially focused on bureaucracy being doubled, but just moved from EU to UK. Something that maybe wasn't intuitive to realize, but has come obviously true. But I also warned about freedoms being removed, because UK were already walking the line within EU. And of course the obvious issues with economy. Everything I and others warned against has come true. Including the lack of benefits.
I think Brexit (edit:) campaign has also been a significant factor in making UK way more xenophobic.
It's difficult to say exactly because of Covid, but I think the economy is actually hit a bit harder than I expected.5
This is in the UK.
10Ah yes, it's even at the very top of the article. 🫣
AFAIK UK has unfortunately removed citizen protections since leaving EU.
So I have no idea what their rules are, only that they are worse than they used to be.6
The rules in the EU are also made for the rich. The difference is just that the EU has at least some left votes in there, so it's not as bad.
5
Without opening the article this feels super British. Like, talk about an inability to make proper insults, English bigots are some of the most unimaginative and idiotic people on the planet.
13Chef, a British sitcom, is a masterclass in insults. John Cleese is an insulting savant. There are diamonds in that rough, but wit is a feature of brains, while bigotry and bullying is a feature of no brains.
3
Did they consider hanging a no bullying poster in the staff room?
11Racism at the heart of a past colonial empire? No way!
11AFAIK UK used to be pretty open and tolerant towards commonwealth emigrants back in the 70's?
IDK why it's become so bad in the UK, but it seems they've gotten worse together with USA the past few decades.
This is an unfortunate trend that sweeps most of the world. USA, Europe, Russia, China and India. But UK and USA seem worse than most.6The UK was not open and tolerant in the 70s, which is why there was one race riot after another on the 80s.
The UK has definitely gotten worse in the last few years or so, possibly a decade, but before that was a golden period just after terrorism-related Islamophobia had died down and before refugee-related Islamophobia kicked in where the UK was probably the best it ever was on terms of racial attitudes.
9
The UK is a failed state as many society forming institutions are straight up failing, and it seems that the UK is only being held up by the finance industry, so elites who don’t even need the government or it’s society to function. US oligarchs want to do that in the US.
8Just a reminder that almost everyone is a curry lover. It's tasty stuff. Using it as an insult shows that one hasn't thought about what they are saying and is de facto proof that they are an idiot.
7Sky News UK - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)
Information for Sky News UK:
MBFC: Least Biased - Credibility: High - Factual Reporting: High - United Kingdom
Wikipedia about this sourceSearch topics on Ground.News
-6Indian, Japanese or Vietnamese? I prefer Vietnamese myself.
-9This user talked about curry and everyone got mad
8Because they left out Thai curry. Who does that?
13
Never had a real Vietnamese curry, just imitations of Thai curries from Vietnamese shops. My friend’s family promised to make it for me but it’s been 20 years and I think he might be dead or on a meth-fueled tour of every truck stop bathroom on the east coast. Anyway, how’s it compare?
8Red curry is my favorite 4/10 on spice. The flavors are incredible – serve over some rice.
2
Thai yellow curry. The more coconut the better.
7North Indian is the best.
5Ever had Tibetan food? They do curried potatoes and they're really good.
0
Malaysian.
1
staffroom
In a piece about schools, sky.com forgets how to hyphenate. Spend some more time in school.
-10What a useless nitpick, especially since it's incorrect.
14