‘This is what you get when you speak out against the boys’
Fisheries official taped to chair ‘after accusing staff of bullying’
A WOMAN has claimed her colleagues gagged her and taped her to a chair during a ten-year campaign of bullying and harassment.
DeeAnn Fitzpatrick, who has taken a catalogue of complaints to an employment tribunal, alleges that the incident happened at a Marine Scotland office in 2010.
The 49-year-old fisheries officer claims it came after she complained about threatening and misogynistic behaviour at the Scottish Government agency.
The Canadian national, who has lived in Scotland for more than 25 years, also made a number of other allegations against her employer. She claims she was mocked for having a miscarriage and that some staff at Marine Scotland did not want ‘a woman, especially a foreign woman’, working with them.
She also claims that extreme racist language and threatening behaviour was directed towards female staff, who were sometimes referred to as ‘prostitutes’.
Marine Scotland is the watchdog for the fisheries and aquaculture industries.
Speaking from her home in Newfoundland, Canada, last night, Miss Fitzpatrick’s sister-in-law Sherry Fitzpatrick said: ‘After everything that has happened and all the horrible bullying and insults DeeAnn has suffered over the years, I felt that this picture deserved to be shown.
‘DeeAnn has lived in Scotland for 25 years and she was absolutely delighted to have been given that job. But it just got worse and worse until she couldn’t stand it.’
She added: ‘We’ve been aware of this for ten years and it just kept getting worse.’
The 45-year-old said she decided to speak out because Miss Fitzpatrick, who lives alone, was prevented from doing so by the civil service code of conduct.
Mrs Fitzpatrick added: ‘The excuse was always that it was office banter, but how can you tie someone up in a chair and think that was OK?
‘She has been very badly affected by this and she spends all her time within the walls of her home. What we really want is for the people involved in all this to start answering some very serious questions’. Speaking at the tribunal in November last year, Miss Fitzpatrick, from Thurso, Caithness, said: ‘I was taped to a chair and told this is what happens if you speak out.’
Speaking on BBC Scotland, Highlands and Islands Labour MSP Rhoda Grant described the photograph as ‘horrific’.
She added: ‘I’m speechless. I knew it had happened, I had been told it had happened. When you see the picture it makes that ten times worse.’
Miss Fitzpatrick was reportedly signed off work on full pay two years ago and is seeking compensation. She has claimed her complaints were repeatedly ignored. It is understood the tribunal is unable to consider the chair incident as evidence because it allegedly took place more than three years before the case was brought.
The Scottish Government said it does ‘not comment on internal staffing matters’ but a spokesman added: ‘We have clear standards of behaviour which apply to all staff.
‘Any concerns raised by staff are taken seriously and investigated fully.
‘There is currently an ongoing employment tribunal and in addition to this there are also internal procedures in train. It would be wrong to undermine or pre-empt the outcome of these processes.’