Hansard

I thank everyone who signed the motion for the debate. This is probably the most difficult speech that I have made to Parliament, and it is not suitable for children to hear.

Imagine that you have returned to work after a relationship break-up with a person who is a work colleague. That relationship has been short but devastating. You have to take out a non-harassment order against your former partner, and you suffer a miscarriage. On your return to work, you ask your line manager for time off to attend counselling and he tells you to go in your lunch breaks. He knows that you have taken out a non-harassment order, but threatens to send you to work in another office, beside your ex-partner. Your line manager tells you:

“I think I will go off with stress. If it works for some in here, well, it should work for me.”

He also says:

“F***ing foreigners—shoot each and every B******. Coming into our country, taking our money and expecting everything handed to them.”

That manager also refers to women in extremely derogatory terms. I cannot repeat the language here in the chamber, but it was racist, sexist, vicious and degrading.

This is what happened to DeeAnn Fitzpatrick, who is originally from Canada, and is a fishery officer in Caithness. I have been representing DeeAnn for a decade. The language that her line manager used was commonplace in the office, and was often used in front of stakeholders. DeeAnn has been subjected to institutional racism, sexism, harassment and abuse at the hands of Marine Scotland, which is a Scottish Government directorate.

Despite my having raised the matter at senior levels of Government—with the previous permanent secretary, and with John Swinney, Richard Lochhead, Paul Wheelhouse and the First Minister—the abuse continues. I am now taking my lead from DeeAnn, who is a brave and courageous woman: I am going to blow the whistle, too.

DeeAnn contacted me because she was concerned about another member of staff who was being bullied. I was aware of bullying at Marine Scotland in Scrabster, but had nothing that I could follow up. DeeAnn had enough of it and became a whistleblower. As a result, two male fishery officers were suspended—one for pretending to punch a female member of staff in the back of her head. He was the woman’s line manager. He was encouraged by the senior fishery officer—DeeAnn’s boss—who told him to make sure it was a good one. DeeAnn reported the incident. Both officers were disciplined. The senior fishery officer was demoted and proposed for a move to another office. The fishery officer who acted out the assault was dismissed. However, both successfully appealed.

The Scottish Government knows that the senior fishery officer secretly recorded the disciplinary panel’s deliberations and learned details that led to the successful appeals. When the senior fishery officer returned to the Scrabster office, he chose a desk close to DeeAnn’s. She is often forced to work alone with him. He knows that she reported him. Work colleagues were also told that DeeAnn had reported the incident.

Over the years, the oppressive behaviour has been constant and undermining. For example, when a fishery officer was off with the flu, the senior fishery officer said:

“Well, you could be like certain other people, have a miscarriage and take six months off work.”

Initially, colleagues stuck up for DeeAnn and said, “That was nasty.” The senior fishery officer then leaned over his desk and said to DeeAnn:

“No, that was not nasty, my dear, but I can be nasty.”

After DeeAnn became a whistleblower, support from colleagues largely disappeared. She was continually being pulled up for little things for which her male colleagues were not pulled up. Her overtime was cut. She told senior management and human resources about it, but nothing changed—in fact, the situation got worse, because DeeAnn is referred to by HR as a serial complainer.

DeeAnn asked for time off when her mother was critically ill. The senior fishery officer said that she was not entitled to it, although other officers were given compassionate leave without quibble. She checked that with a more senior officer, who said that she was entitled to time off. The senior fishery officer was angry that she had gone over his head.

DeeAnn and another officer hurt themselves when lifting fish boxes. The other officer was told to record his injury on the computer system, but DeeAnn was asked to provide a doctor’s letter. She was constantly held to a different standard from that to which others were held—on time off in lieu, holidays and time off for compassionate leave or medical reasons. On every occasion, she was questioned, while others were not. A colleague of hers has told me that that was deliberate and systematic conduct by people in the office and in the line of command in Marine Scotland—conduct that was designed to wear her down and force her out.

DeeAnn was the only female fishery officer in the Scrabster office. She faced continuous sexist conversation and sexual innuendo. She heard an officer making a racist remark and told him that it was offensive. Her cousin is married to a black woman, and DeeAnn is very fond of her. The response from the colleague was shocking, derogatory and racist—so much so that I cannot repeat it. The senior fishery officer then said:

“That is just f***ing up the population by them having children.”

Presiding Officer, the phrase that he and others in that office have used to refer to DeeAnn is so offensive that you have asked me not to say it in the chamber. I cannot even allude to it without causing offence.

We all saw the pictures in the media of DeeAnn being physically restrained—gagged and taped to a chair. Officers photographed her to humiliate and degrade her because she spoke out about inappropriate behaviour in the workplace. The pictures will now take on a new meaning. The abuse changed from physical and verbal abuse to trying to get rid of DeeAnn.

DeeAnn has on a number of occasions faced disciplinary charges, all of which have been spurious. Her trade union representative attended a meeting with DeeAnn, her manager and another officer who was four levels higher. The rep said that it was the worst meeting that he had ever attended in 33 years as a trade union rep. The more senior manager rose from his seat, pointed in DeeAnn’s face and screamed at her that she was a liar.

It also transpires that the Scottish Government intercepted DeeAnn’s emails, including sensitive exchanges with her trade union representative. A fully hatched plan between Scottish Government HR and DeeAnn’s line manager was uncovered, which showed that they intended to move her to the Outer Hebrides or, failing that, to find grounds against her—any grounds—in order to dismiss her.

When DeeAnn declared that she could not move because she is caring for her ailing mother, the people involved moved to the dismissal plan and disciplined her for trumped-up charges, which collapsed when they failed to provide the necessary evidence. DeeAnn was then threatened with disciplinary action for going to her father’s deathbed.

In October 2017, DeeAnn was told that she had to remain at home on full pay. She was not suspended and was given no reason why she was not allowed to return to work. She is now being pursued by Marine Scotland with further disciplinary action.

The First Minister’s investigation looked only at the incident with the photograph and was not independent. My evidence to that inquiry was fed back directly to Marine Scotland and twisted to be used against DeeAnn. She has not been informed of that investigation’s findings.

We need a truly independent inquiry into DeeAnn’s treatment at the hands of the Government and Marine Scotland. It cannot be put off any longer.