Female worker LOSES bullying and harassment case after ‘sexist colleagues bound and gagged her to chair’
She claimed she was subjected to a 'racist and misogynistic' culture at the Scottish Government agency
A WORKER who alleged she was "bound and gagged" by colleagues has lost her bullying and harassment case.
DeeAnn Fitzpatrick, 49, claimed she was at government agency Marine Scotland.
She said it came after she complained of a racist and misogynistic culture in a decade-long campaign.
Ms Fitzpatrick said she was taped to a chair and gagged by colleagues in 2010, with a photo of the alleged bullying emerging.
A tribunal heard a colleague told her: “This is what you get when you speak out against the boys.”
The Canadian national also claimed she was mocked over a miscarriage and was the victim of threatening behaviour and racist language at the body's Scrabster office in Caithness.
Colleagues allegedly told her they didn’t want “a woman, especially a foreign woman” at the watchdog.
The tribunal could not consider the claim she was taped to a chair, as it happened more than three years before the complaint was made.
Rhoda Grant, Labour MSP, who supported the Canadian national, said after seeing a photo of DeeAnn tied up: “It’s horrific. I’m kind of speechless.”
DeeAnn's sister-in-law Sherry Fitzpatrick said about the 2010 picture: "We were horrified. We were sickened. We worry about what this has done to her."
The tribunal was able to take into account claims she had received abusive cards on her birthday and Valentines Day between 2015 and 2017.
Ms Fitzpatrick claimed this was part of a long campaign of harassment while she worked in Marine Scotland office.
She had told the hearing: "It’s actually made me become a recluse - I stay at home, I have gone more into myself. With everything going on, I contacted Dignitas in Switzerland. I had enough.”
And following the verdict that the case couldn't be upheld, she : "It is difficult when you spend your entire career fighting racism, misogyny and bullies.
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“Then to make matters worse when you report the incidents, you are the one that is being targeted by an ongoing campaign by senior management because you exposed what they have worked very hard to hide.”
Her sister-in-law said the family was extremely disappointed with the result of the tribunal, but added it did find the HR department could have dealt with the issue more proactively.
She was labelled an "old troll" and told not to attempt to "climb the ladder of success";, she told the tribunal.
The two men who she accused both denied sending the cards.
But the tribunal have now told her they will not be upholding her complaint.
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