A former caseworker for an SNP MSP who started a rumour that a colleague stared at the back of her head before going to the toilet to masturbate was branded “not credible or reliable” by an employment judge.
Philomena Donnachie was alleged to have told people her officer manager, Matthew Leitch, would become so aroused from looking at her head he would “often go to the toilet”.
But she denied making the comments and, when he complained, said that putting the allegations to her amounted to sexual harassment.
Donnachie alleged she was regularly “belittled” and “undermined” by Leitch at Stuart McMillan’s office in Greenock and that he was “confrontational” and “aggressive”.
She sued the SNP MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, claiming constructive dismissal, sex and disability discrimination, as well as sexual harassment.
The 58-year-old, who suffers from depression, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome and had a stroke while working late in the office in 2016, claimed she was being victimised by Leitch for being late to work.
In a letter to McMillan, Leitch, 33, described various problems he had with the claimant’s work, including not carrying out enough tasks while working from home and her timekeeping.
Leitch asked McMillan to investigate “the claimant’s conduct, poor performance and her untrue personal claims”, the tribunal heard.
But when an investigator tried to interview Donnachie, she went off sick for six weeks then handed in her resignation last June – on the day he tried to contact her again, the hearing was told.
However, an employment judge has dismissed her claims for sex and disability discrimination and described Donnachie as “not an entirely credible or reliable witness”.
The judge also said the timing of the claimant’s resignation “was more than coincidental”.
