Excuse the long post.
My previous job to my current one was a step up in terms of leadership and responsibility and I was excited to take on a new challenge, leading a team and creating a shared vision in a top organisation in my sector. As soon as I began the job, it was obvious all was not well in the team I had been employed to lead, colleagues refused to talk to each other or collaborate, nobody understood their role, and hugely inexperienced people had been given management roles way above their qualifications and experience. For example, it is standard in my industry that senior leaders have a PhD or equivalent and people had been employed in leadership roles with UG degree and barely two years of industry experience. One of these particular people was difficult from the start, she kicked up a huge fuss when I asked to meet all members of the team one on one (I was the line manager) to get a sense of individuals and set shared targets as we moved forward, and refused to meet me without another colleague present. I found this odd, as I had never met her ahead of working in the company and certainly hadn't had any negative interactions. In our one on one she got very angry and began to cry when I brought up that a budget line she had some responsibility for (though my predecessor was the overall budget holder) was overspending due to a misunderstanding about the allocation of funds available for particular things. It later transpired she had been hired by my previous role holder, who she was very fond of, and who had appointed her without the requisite qualifications and 'mentored' her in her role, which had meant doing all of the leadership tasks on her behalf. This could not continue under my leadership and I made it clear everyone with leadership responsibilty (and therefore salaries of £60k plus) would need to do their role.
The whole job was extremely difficult, with the management of interpersonal conflict and staff grievances happening from day one. The member of staff I allude to above was hugely central in this culture of formal grievance making and in the first six months I was there took out grievances against staff as well as complaints about our customer base on a more than monthly basis - all on the grounds of racism against her. The organisation I was in had a huge anti-racism policy and took a 'no holds barred' attitude to investigating and rooting out racism — investigations took place and inevitably there was no evidence of racism, or in one case evidence that some bias may have impacted decision making, although this could not be proven (as a senior leader I saw all the independent investigation reports, all of which cost the company many thousands of pounds). About half of the people investigated found the process so stressful that they went on long-term sick leave and then resigned from the post.
As an aside, and because it is relevant, this colleague was not the only person of colour in the organisation, or my team, although she was the only Black senior woman on my team. It is also relevant that our industry is hugely invested in anti-racism, and part of every institution includes specialist EDI and anti-racist departments (which I think is necessary, and do not in any way object to - simply to say, being cast as racist is a reputationally damaging way beyond what it might be in even most reasonably progressive workplaces).
It became obvious that she did not have the experience to carry out the role on her own, which wasn't surprising given her lack of skills, experience and qualifications. HR worked with me to support her development through coaching and leadership training, including one-to-one mentorship with an external Black leader of her choice, costing over £15k. At year's end her department had massively underperformed and an organisational traffic light system (arranged and operated by the exec board, not me) highlighted every aspect of her performance as 'red' (required urgent change).
Anyway, about a year into the role I got pregnant. During this time, my colleague's behaviour escalated. She stopped attending meetings against company policy, took out yet more grievances against colleagues and refused to meet one-to-one with any of her direct reports. Meanwhile, I was very ill with gestational diabetes, anemia and other pregnancy complications. On the day I went on maternity leave, she took out a grievance against me for racist harassment, it was completely vexatious and full of out and out untruths or completely misrepresented the facts. My company insisted I undergo the investigation process on mat leave, so two weeks postpartum I had to participate in a long round of meetings, intrusive interviews with external investigators and evidence gathering that took the entire six months of my maternity to conclude. Fortunately, I had evidence to refute every point and witnesses to corroborate my statements. The investigation found no case to answer and recommended any record of the process was struck from my record. No action was taken against my colleague (who I get is free to make accusations, and the employer is duty bound to follow them up).
It goes without saying that this was hugely stressful. I left the organisation soon after and began a case for constructive dismissal on the basis of the handling of my case, which they settled ahead of a tribunal for tens of thousands of pounds. I found a new job at the same rank in a much nicer company soon after, am thriving here and have moved on. Two years have passed. However, the toxic colleague who was let go from the last place earlier this year has somehow managed to get a job here. As I understand it from a friend at the last job she was given a severance package that included a glowing reference. I am horrified I will have to work in her proximity, and today, when I bumped into her in the staff canteen, I was overcome with emotion. I am so shocked, and seriously considering leaving a job I love, so I don't have to be near this person. Is there anything I can realistically do to move on psychologically from this? Part of me feels that I need to let it go and accept she has a different perspective on the events of our last job to me. I am not in her team at this place, so contact will be minimal. AIBU to feel so angry and upset that I need to work with this person?