NICOLA Sturgeon said she was unable to meet with Cherry's staff struggling to deal with their working environment.
The First Minister was contacted on August 24 last year by Iona Paton, who said: "I am concerned this could look incredibly bad for the party because the way this complaint is being handled goes against everything you said this morning, that all organisations and workplaces must make it possible for people to come forward to report concerns and have confidence that they will be treated seriously.”
Joanna Cherry: former employee speaks out over bullying allegations at MP's office
Ms Sturgeon replied on September 10, stating: “It is my understand [sic] that matters are being progressed by the party directly with your employer to see what steps are being taken towards resolving this.
"This follows a meeting you and others had with Ian McCann at HQ to outline the issue.
"Joanna, as your employer, is responsible for preventing bullying and harassment in her office. Regardless of her friendship with any employee, she has responsibilities to you and others in the office.
"I appreciate that parliamentarians are not always well versed in how to address such situations and while I do not know whether that is the case in this situation I will make sure that the party offers Joanna any support in order to resolve matters swiftly and bring this matter to a satisfactory conclusion."
She added: "Given that this is an employment matter ... I don't think it would be appropriate to meet with you at this stage."
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