“The Chair Incident”

The human resources team for the Scottish Government insist on referring to the violation and assault on our sister as “the chair incident.” They have asked the question, “Why did it take nearly 8 years to report?” 

It was reported in 2010 and 2011 but they maintain that the story was fabricated and the evidence was tampered with.  It was reported in 2012 to human resources and during a disciplinary appeal hearing that DeeAnn was facing. In 2014 it was reported and documented in an independent investigation.  It was submitted in court documents for an employment tribunal in 2017.  2018 the Scottish Government was forced to investigate because the incident was now in the public eye.  On more than 4 occasions the opportunity was ignored to investigate and when they are forced to investigate they alleged that it merely a high jinks and fabricated.  Let’s not forget that DeeAnn raised issues that were highly inappropriate, illegal and not in the scope of what would be deemed acceptable in the Scottish Government guidelines and code of conduct:

·         Being on shift with men that were intoxicated and high while in control of a company vehicle.

·         Being made to work on her own on a fishing vessel with 10 men.

·         Witnessing and being threatened with physical assault.

·         Being driven in a company vehicle at excessive speeds that endangered her life.

·         Refusing to stop on a road journey for a comfort break.

·         Being assaulted.

·         Being spit at.

·         Being verbally abused on a regular basis.

·         Witnessing and reporting theft.

·         Witnessing damage to company property.

·         Witnessing racism

·         Witnessing and suffering sexual harassment and the list can go on and on.

10 years our sister turned to human resources, senior officials and the head of the Scottish Government for help.  They did not investigate anything.  They turned the table and conveniently dismissed her.  It is not “The Chair Incident,” that they don’t want to see the light of day.  It is the negligence of the human resources special advisors and senior managers that they don’t want you to see.  Our sister signed the official secrets act but she did not sign a document that says you have the right to abuse, destroy and then dismiss her.   

DeeAnn’s trade union representative from PCS wrote to Sir Peter Housden to ask him to intervene because a serious incident had been reported and it was not handled properly.  Several months later, the trade union representative Malcolm Clark and MSP Rhoda Grant wrote to Sir Peter Housden again seeking his help because matters were getting worse. 

Email after email was sent to Barbara Allison and Nicola Richards to bring this institutional harassment against our sister to a stop.  Letters were sent to the Permanent Secretary, Lesley Evans.  No one wanted to know and no one wanted to take on years of professional negligence that would result in disciplinary action being taken against senior members of staff.

In the Scottish Parliament, a committee have been undertaking a stringent investigation into the Scottish Government handling of harassment complaints. They are to consider and report on the actions of the First Minister, Scottish Government officials and special advisers in dealing with complaints about Alex Salmond, former First Minister, considered under the Scottish Government’s “Handling of harassment complaints involving current or former ministers” procedure and actions in relation to the Scottish Ministerial Code.  The former First Minister, Alex Salmond was acquitted of all allegations of sexual harassment in the Edinburgh High Court in March 2020.

We have been closely following this investigation which can be viewed on the Scottish Parliamentary News and TV website.

Several officials and advisors that have been interviewed by the committee are and have been involved in our sister’s case: 

Judith Mckinnon – Deputy Director of People

Nicola Richards – Director of People Directorate

Barbara Allison – Director of Communications (Former Director of People)

Sarah Davidson – Former Director-General, Organisational Development (Now CEO of Carnegie Trust)  

Paul Cackette – Former Director of Legal Services

Sir Peter Housden – former Permanent Secretary

Lesley Evans – current Permanent Secretary

Nicola Sturgeon - First Minister

Background into the undertaking of the Scottish Parliamentary investigation:  The Scottish Government did a review of their dignity/fairness at work policy.  During the process they just happened to slip in there a clause whereby it would allow complaints against any former First Ministers to be investigated and any complaints would not be time barred.

Human resources, special advisors and the Scottish Government officials were all aware how to conduct a fair, untainted and unbiased investigation.  This fell apart in the Alex Salmond case and our sister’s case.  Both Alex Salmond and DeeAnn are up against the same calibre of people who will and have acted in a way that is not procedurally fair and transparent. 

Judith Mckinnon, Deputy Director of People, supported and encouraged the women to come forward with complaints of alleged sexual assault against the former First Minister, Alex Salmond.  She was also the investigating officer who under no right or wrong circumstances would be able to carry out an unbiased and fair investigation.  She insists that she acted appropriately.  Her “appropriate actions” cost the people in Scotland over £500,000.00 and let down 9 women who came forward with their complaints of sexual harassment that will haunt them for the rest of their lives.  Judith Mckinnon stresses that she sought legal advice all the way throughout the investigation and regularly updated her line managers.  The legal advisor was not named because he is not a senior civil servant.  The same legal advisor said that DeeAnn would never get her job back and kept her out of her place of work since 2016. 

Judith Mckinnon instructed employees David Torz and another member of staff to travel a 600 mile return car journey to Thurso, Caithness on 26th March 2020 to the private residence of our sister.  The 24th March 2020 the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, gave a speech informing that Scotland is effectively in Lockdown.  Judith Mckinnon and her team maintain that the two officers that travelled together in the same vehicle for a 600 mile return journey did keep to the social distancing.  Karen Hay, People Advice and Wellbeing Manager stated that they did not act out with the lockdown rules because it was not in force until the evening of the 26th March 2020.  We would like to advise Karen Hay and others that our sister’s life and safety is just as important as the next person living in Scotland.  It was an intentional tactic to invade her private home and her personal email account to add to the stress that they already have caused her.  Karen Hay has been involved into the 2 disciplinary and appeal cases involving our sister.

In 2010 a male fishery officer known for his violent outbursts was reported for attempting to physically assault a female member of staff.  After this incident DeeAnn was subjected to one disciplinary action after another.  She was now on the radar of her senior management team and human resources. 

The Scottish Government encourages employees to challenge unacceptable behaviour.  The Permanent Secretary, Lesley Evans said, “What you promote you permit.”  Our sister challenged unacceptable behaviour and she was called a serial complainer by a professional advisor who has since retired. The same professional advisor was instructed by her line manager to offer DeeAnn support which she never done. 

At DeeAnn’s employment tribunal in Aberdeen, June Culpan and Kerry Marshall, human resources professional advisors did not attend as witnesses because they were worried about their safety because of the public interest in the case.  Judith Mckinnon gave evidence on their behalf.  She felt that they acted appropriately but failed to tell the employment tribunal judges that June Culpan was writing emails for one of the bullies and advising him of anything that DeeAnn wrote to her about.   Kerry Marshall and Carol Heatlie, special advisors spent time trolling through DeeAnn’s email account looking for anything that they could use against DeeAnn. They said that they had found evidence in DeeAnn’s emails that warranted disciplinary action being taken against her but failed to act on it.  In DeeAnn’s emails was the picture that was sent to DeeAnn restrained to the chair and gagged.  There were copies of the emails that DeeAnn sent to senior line managers.  All of this evidence magically disappeared from the DeeAnn’s work computer.  Email exchanges with her trade union representative, Malcolm Clark were read and the special advisors said that given the chance they would do it again.  There is nothing in place to stop and prevent human resources special advisors from reading email correspondence between a trade union member and the trade union representative.  This leaves all trade union members vulnerable in their place of employment.

The assault against DeeAnn was entered into the employment tribunal case but was time barred along with over 35 reports of bullying, harassment and victimisation.  The judges would only consider some of the malicious cards that were sent to DeeAnn to be entered into evidence.  Gregor Mckenzie, DeeAnn’s former senior line manager, in a written statement suggested that Alison Sutherland, the woman that DeeAnn stood up for and defended, was responsible for sending the malicious cards to DeeAnn.  DeeAnn’s line manager, John Bruce wrote to Gregor Mckenzie and Simon Dryden, senior managers, warning them that that need to be careful because AS was trying to set DeeAnn up. 

DeeAnn’s line managers were colluding in presenting evidence against DeeAnn in her disciplinary hearing.  They both had the same words incorrectly spelt in their statements.   They were contacting Reid Anderson and Alison Sutherland to find out personal information about DeeAnn and her family.  They were asking them to report back anything that would help them to discredit DeeAnn.  John Bruce had Alison Sutherland deliberately engage in conversation with DeeAnn about what was happening in their place of work.  Alison Sutherland was told to try and record the conversation on her mobile telephone.  Then they had Reid Anderson take DeeAnn on a coastal patrol.  He placed his phone on record and engaged in conversation with DeeAnn about what was going on in their place of work.  DeeAnn was told by the human resources that no one was to speak about what occurred in the office.  This was entrapment.

One of the managers suggested that they would contact the police and fabricate something about DeeAnn because they knew that the police would not know who they were over the telephone.  Private and confidential information about DeeAnn was shared in an email exchange between Simon Dryden, former superintendent of Marine Scotland Compliance and human resources professional advisors in 2011 on a Scottish Government public calendar.

John Bruce, Simon Dryden and Gregor Mckenzie sought out personal information about DeeAnn’s Mom who was ill.  Simon Dryden asked for DeeAnn’s Mom’s medical records.  While DeeAnn was at her dying father’s beside, June Culpan, human resource special advisor sent her an email advising DeeAnn that they were considering disciplinary action because she went to Canada to be with her brothers while their Dad passed away and never told anyone.  DeeAnn had a copy of the email and text message that was sent to her senior manager. They mocked and disbelieved the illness of her Mom and Dad.  I sent June Culpan a copy of the obituary.  Shame on them.

5 months later, DeeAnn’s trade union representative was made aware of this email exchange between Simon Dryden and a senior human resources employee.  He immediately acted to have it removed.  The data breach was raised with Barbara Allison, former Director of People, who merely asked Simon Dryden to remove the email exchange. No disciplinary action was taken.  IT experts were unable to establish how this email exchange appeared, was deleted and reappeared into the personal and private email account of Simon Dryden that is password protected.  Simon Dryden suggested that maybe Malcolm Clark accessed his computer and tampered with the email.  Simon Dryden wanted to know if DeeAnn had read the email exchange because he had marked it private and confidential, that way he could bring a disciplinary charge against DeeAnn.

Disciplinary charges were threatened and brought against our sister by Simon Dryden, Gregor Mckenzie and John Bruce starting in 2011.  During the hearing, the trade union representative, Malcolm Clark asked for sight of evidence that was referred to in the disciplinary charges.   The response given by human resources was that the evidence was destroyed.  Why would you destroy importance evidence when you are taking the matter to disciplinary?  This has never been answered. The case was awarded in favour of our sister.  

Disciplinary charges were threatened again in 2015 brought against our sister in January 2016 by Gregor Mckenzie and John Bruce.  There was involvement in the beginning of this case from Simon Dryden.  The same charges that have kicked off the dismissal of our sister today.  However, the charges that were alleged did not hold strength to warrant dismissal and then they set the ball rolling to gather more evidence to raise additional charges to justify dismissal.  Originally the charges were 4 and were now well over 12 in number.   The case resulted in dismissal of our sister.

Lyndsey Cairns sought Occupational advice to see if DeeAnn was mentally well enough to attend a disciplinary hearing.  Occupational health advice was deemed that DeeAnn was not fit to attend a disciplinary but given some time with her treatment she would be.  Lyndsey Cairns advised that the disciplinary would proceed without DeeAnn attending.  DeeAnn was dismissed and not given the opportunity to present her case.  She advised DeeAnn that she had no right to have a trade union representative with her during an occupational assessment.  During the occupational assessment DeeAnn was advised by the doctor that it was ok to have someone with her and he had on many occasions had trade union representatives present with the patient.  DeeAnn was again denied her human rights.  Any obstacle that they can throw in DeeAnn’s way, they will and have done.

Please be advised that each and every publication in this petition, DeeAnnSpeaks, was used as additional reasons for our sister’s dismissal.  The entries into this petition will be used as part of her appeal and employment tribunal and so on.  For a number of years our sister reached out to the right people within the Scottish Government for help and doors were slammed in her face.  Her mental health and wellbeing has suffered because she is a whistleblower.  Our sister stood up for herself and others when no one else would. 

The investigation into our sister’s case was unlawful and tainted by apparent bias. 

Protect whistleblowers, don’t dismiss them because what you permit you promote.

This does not go away until all the truth is out. 

No job is worth anyone being destroyed for doing what is right and expected of them.

Anyone who has been bullied has the right to be heard.  Please stand up to the bullies within your place of work.  You did not sign up for that type of treatment.  Expose the wrongdoings and those that committed them.