Hong Kong principal takes former school to court after being sacked over Singapore guard incident

SINGAPORE: Earlier this year, the principal of a secondary school in Hong Kong who was accompanying students on a trip to Singapore made the news after a video of him shouting at local security guards was widely shared on social media.  This was followed by heated discussions online on racism and bad behaviour.

This week, there has been an update concerning the incident, as Lee Cheuk-hing, the former principal of San Wui Commercial Society Secondary School in Tuen Mun, has taken the school to court.

According to a Sept 8 report in The Witness, an independent digital media outlet in Hong Kong, Mr Lee is suing the school for wrongful termination, believing that he was unfairly dismissed from his job and that the school ended his contract without providing sufficient notice or payment.

While he originally sought more than HK$960,000 (approximately S$155,200) in damages, he has since amended this amount to HK$902,867 (around S$146,000) as some of the items listed in his lawsuit have been settled by the school. 

The case will go on trial in December.

The backstory

Mr Lee was seen in a Threads video arguing with and then swearing at two female guards at an undisclosed location in Jurong on May 22.

The school issued a public apology for the incident, and its manager said that Mr Lee had been suspended on May 26 as his conduct during the incident did not meet public expectations.

Mr Lee then tendered his resignation, but asked for his last day to be on August 31, as this would satisfy the required notice period stated in his contract. However, this was rejected by the school management, who chose instead to dismiss him with immediate effect.

Mr Lee was quoted in the report as saying that this decision caused him to be “deeply shocked and filled with regret.” 

He issued a statement in which he apologised again for his behaviour and sought to provide a context for his conduct. He said that the bus company the school had hired for the trip had, as a matter of routine, brought passengers outside the gates of venues on past trips.

The security guard warned the bus driver in English, but because of a language barrier, he could not communicate clearly, and this caused the disagreement.

The former principal underlined that he stepped in only to protect his students’ safety, as he wanted to avoid the students getting stranded in another country at a venue they were unfamiliar with, though he acknowledged that there are no reasons for an educator to behave improperly. /TISG

Read also: Hong Kong lawmaker compares sacking of principal who screamed at Singapore guards to a ‘death sentence’