A female civil servant who was pictured gagged and taped to a chair is suing the Scottish Government, it has been reported.
DeeAnn Fitzpatrick, a fisheries officer at Marine Scotland, previously claimed she was the victim of a sustained campaign of misogynistic abuse.
Her case was raised at the Scottish Parliament on Thursday by Scottish Labour’s Rhoda Grant, who called for a “truly independent inquiry” into the allegations.
The BBC reported that lawyers acting for Ms Fitzpatrick have now confirmed she has raised a legal action against the Scottish Government, believed to be based on stress and mental health allegations.
Ms Grant hailed Ms Fitzpatrick as a “brave, courageous woman” for blowing the whistle when she highlighted the case in Holyrood.
The Highlands MSP hit out at the Scottish Government for allegedly being part of plans to get rid of the civil servant – and accused it of “intercepting” emails between Ms Fitzpatrick and her trade union representative.
She said: “DeeAnn has been subject to institutional racism, sexism, harassment and abuse at the hands of Marine Scotland, a Scottish Government directorate.
“Despite me raising this at senior levels in Government, with the previous Permanent Secretary, with John Swinney, with Richard Lochhead, with Paul Wheelhouse, and the First Minister – the abuse continues, and I am now taking my lead from DeeAnn, a brave, courageous women, and I’m going to blow the whistle too.”
Ms Fitzpatrick previously claimed she experienced bullying and harassment while employed as a fisheries officer at Marine Scotland’s Scrabster office in the Highlands.
The Canadian national lost a case at an employment tribunal in June last year, which did not consider the restraint claims alleged to have occurred in 2010.
A review by Permanent Secretary to the Scottish Government Leslie Evans later concluded the chair incident was “completely unacceptable”.
Ms Grant used a member’s debate on condemning misogyny and harassment to raise the whistleblower’s case in a speech she described as “probably the most difficult” she has ever made.
She claimed a manager “referred to women in extremely derogatory terms”.
“I cannot repeat the language used here in the chamber, but it was racist, sexist, vicious and degrading,” she added.
Ms Fitzpatrick was the victim of “constant and undermining” oppressive behaviour, the MSP said.
She added: “I’m told by a colleague that 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.”
She continued: “Officers photographed her to humiliate and degrade her because she spoke out about inappropriate behaviour in the workplace.” Ms Grant demanded “a truly independent inquiry” into Ms Fitzpatrick’s treatment, insisting: “It cannot be put off any longer.”
During the debate, SNP MSP Rona Mackay described the case as “extremely shocking”.
Meanwhile Green co-convener Patrick Harvie said it was an “experience which I hope all of us across the chamber would find utterly intolerable”.
Scottish Conservative MSP Annie Wells said: “I hope that this goes some way to ensuring that DeeAnn gets the independent inquiry that she absolutely, desperately deserves.”
Equalities minister Christina McKelvie told MSPs that there is an ongoing process and it would not be appropriate to comment at this stage.
A Scottish Government spokesman later added: “Harassment or abuse of any form is completely unacceptable, and will not be tolerated in the Scottish Government.
“We have robust policies and procedures in place 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.”
Pictures of Ms Fitzpatrick taped to a chair first emerged last year.
Ms Grant said the civil servant has been forced to stay off work since 2017, and is still being “pursued” with disciplinary action.
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