My sister was broken by this ...but it was just the start. In MeToo age, is that justice?
Family’s anger over quango worker gagged and bound to chair
THE family of a civil servant gagged and tied to a chair after she spoke out against misogyny at work say she is facing ongoing ‘psychological warfare’ from her bosses.
Days after it emerged DeeAnn Fitzpatrick is suing the Scottish Government for sexist treatment she claims she suffered at the hands of male colleagues, her sister has revealed the nightmare continues for the 49-year-old fisheries officer.
It is understood Miss Fitzpatrick, of Thurso, Caithness, is to be called in for a fifth time by her bosses at Marine Scotland to be grilled again over the events leading up to the ‘Chairgate’ scandal.
Yesterday, her sister Sherry said her sibling had been recently warned by her employers not to comment further on the case publicly – so she had decided to speak up on her behalf.
She said: ‘DeeAnn used to be strong, brave and outgoing. Now my sister is a recluse who is afraid of her own shadow.
‘Her job was her life. All she wants is to be allowed to return to work again with her head held high and to see those responsible for her workplace humiliation held fully accountable.
‘But instead it’s DeeAnn’s life that has been put on hold. In this #MeToo age we now live in, I find that incredible. How is this justice?’
Miss Fitzpatrick, originally from Canada, has claimed she was targeted after telling management about the mistreatment of another female in the office by a senior male co-worker.
It led, in 2010, to two colleagues allegedly grabbing her, taping her legs and arms and then one telling the other: ‘Give me some tape. That shuts her up.’
Tape was then placed over her mouth, she claimed, and the man added: ‘That’s what you get for speaking out against the boys’.
A photograph was taken during the incident at Marine Scotland’s Scrabster office.
Describing its impact, Sherry Fitzpatrick said: ‘To this day, she can hardly bear to look at the photograph of her taped to the chair and gagged. It reminds her of a day she felt she became a nothing.
‘It was horrible for her to be violated and laughed at like that by her colleagues. It’s one of the most degrading things you can do to a woman. She cringes, shuts her eyes and relives it all.
‘She was broken by her male colleagues. And their punishment? One has been promoted, while the other was allowed to leave with a nice severance payment.’ Recently, she claims, Marine Scotland seconded a male worker to the area, with whom her sister was previously in a relationship and who was served with a court order preventing him contacting her online or approaching her directly.
She added: ‘The police have had to be contacted after he made attempts to communicate. Marine Scotland are fully aware of the circumstances, yet don’t seem to care. We believe it’s all part of the wider psychological warfare they are waging to drive her out for good.’
The move to sue the Scottish Government comes as Labour’s Rhoda Grant called at Holyrood for a ‘truly independent inquiry’. The Highlands MSP used a debate on misogyny and harassment to raise the case in a speech last Thursday, which she said was ‘probably the most difficult’ she had ever made.
Miss Grant said a Marine Scotland manager ‘referred to women in extremely derogatory terms’.
She added: ‘I cannot repeat the language used here in the chamber, but it was racist, sexist, vicious and degrading. DeeAnn has been subject to institutional racism, sexism, harassment and abuse at the hands of Marine Scotland, a Scottish Government directorate.
‘I’m told this was deliberate and systematic conduct by others in the office and in the line of command in Marine Scotland, designed to wear her down and force her out.’
Miss Fitzpatrick, who has not been suspended but has been given no reason why she is not allowed to return to work, lost an employment tribunal against Marine Scotland last June. The hearing did not consider the chair incident as it was said to have been ‘time-barred’.
It focused on her claim she had received abusive cards from colleagues. The tribunal said it could not agree whether the cards could be said to have been likely to come from current colleagues.
Scottish Government Permanent Secretary Leslie Evans was asked by Nicola Sturgeon to review the case and concluded the chair incident was ‘completely unacceptable, whatever the circumstances’.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘Harassment or abuse of any form is completely unacceptable. We have robust policies and procedures to deal with instances where behaviour falls below the standard expected.
‘This matter is the subject of an ongoing internal process. We do not discuss internal staffing matters.’
‘She can hardly bear to look at the photo’