Grieving parents demand answers after boss ‘ambushed’ daughter, 26, over office complaint that led her to take own life

THE GRIEVING parents of a Treasury employee who took her own life have demanded answers after she was “ambushed” by bosses over an office complaint. Chloe Moffat, 26, died on May 20 last year, a day after she was called into a disciplinary meeting and accused of sharing confidential information. The parents of a Treasury employee who took her own life have demanded answers following her death Credit: Facebook Personal assistant, Chloe Moffat, took her own life following a disciplinary meeting last year Credit: Facebook A coroner found earlier this month how the Treasury had “materially contributed” to Chloe‘s death after the department failed to follow its own policies. The personal assistant from Brixton, South London, had not been reassured by management that her job was safe – even though she was unlikely to lose her job. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! Chloe, who “loved her job” and had an “exemplary employment record”, was left in a state of “distress” following the meeting. Her parents have now blasted the accusations against their daughter as “vexatious” and “nothing more than office gossip”, reports The Times. The 26-year-old was accused of sharing confidential information by senior bosses Credit: Facebook Her parents say the claims against their daughter were ‘vexatious’ and nothing more than office gossip’ Credit: Facebook On May 19, Chloe was given just five minutes’ notice before she was called into a meeting with two managers. She was subsequently informed that two colleagues had alleged she had shared confidential information about other employees – claims Moffat denied. Chloe’s mum, questioned why bosses didn’t examine if the claims were “credible, consistent with Chloe’s character and if they could perhaps have been malicious”. “When her line manager heard them, she said they didn’t sound like the Chloe she knew,” she said. Most read in The Sun “So why ambush her with a meeting like this without checking if they were vexatious, unfounded or simply not true?” When Chloe asked whether she’d lose her job, the senior manager said she “could not predict the outcome at this stage”. After the meeting, she temporarily lost access to her director’s email inbox and diary and advised not to speak to colleagues about the allegations and potential investigation. Chloe’s father, David said: “After her death, when we were trying to work out how bad the complaints had been for a meeting like this to be called that led to Chloe taking the drastic action she did, we finally saw the allegations and thought, ‘Was that it?’” He added that her colleagues said “it was nothing more than office gossip” and questioned why she hadn’t been “reassured this was the case”. One friend said she received a text from her on the same day as the proceedings which read: “I am going to be fired.” How to get help EVERY 90 minutes in the UK a life is lost to suicide It doesn’t discriminate, touching the lives of people in every corner of society – from the homeless and unemployed to builders and doctors, reality stars and footballers. It’s the biggest killer of people under the age of 35, more deadly than cancer and car crashes. And men are three times more likely to take their own life than women. Yet it’s rarely spoken of, a taboo that threatens to continue its deadly rampage unless we all stop and take notice, now. If you, or anyone you know, needs help dealing with mental health problems, the following organisations provide support: CALM, www.thecalmzone.net, 0800 585 858 Heads Together,www.headstogether.org.uk HUMEN www.wearehumen.org Mind, www.mind.org.uk, 0300 123 3393 Papyrus, www.papyrus-uk.org, 0800 068 41 41 Samaritans,www.samaritans.org, 116 123 The pair met up in central London where Chloe “broke down crying” and was “distressed” at the allegations. Chloe also spoke to her mum who said the 26-year-old was convinced she wouldn’t be able to return to the role even if she kept her job. After speaking to her father, Chloe had agreed to stay at the family’s home in Surrey where they talked about a potential weekend trip to Oxford. But the next morning, David tragically discovered his daughter’s body – the coroner ruled her death as suicide. Her father said that she had been left so distraught by what had happened that “in her eyes, her life was destroyed” and labelled it as “unforgivable”. David added that he didn’t feel the Treasury had taken responsibility but permanent secretary James Bowler had agreed to meet the family in September. Assistant coroner Anna Crawford said previously: “The evidence establishes a clear sequence of events. Had Chloe been properly supported and advised of her rights before the meeting, she would not have been so devastated and isolated.” The coroner said she would be sending a prevention of future deaths report to HM Treasury, the head of the civil service and to Acas. A Treasury spokesperson said earlier this month: “We take the coroner’s concerns extremely seriously and recognise it is important to act quickly. We are now considering the findings carefully. “We have introduced improvements to guidance, support and wellbeing arrangements but recognise we must continue to take action to prevent this happening again.”