Taxpayers have paid more than $300,000 in confidential sexual harassment settlements on behalf of six former members of the House of Representatives or their places of work, in keeping with GOP Rep. Nancy Mace and documents reviewed by NCS.
The Office of Congressional Workplace Rights was compelled to show over the settlement documents to Congress following a subpoena from Mace, who has helped lead an effort on Capitol Hill to push for transparency and accountability following sexual misconduct allegations that led to a pair of high-profile resignations.
A NCS assessment of over 1,000 pages of case recordsdata, together with counsel notes, settlement documents and formal complaints, presents a window into allegations that sure members leveraged their positions of energy to mistreat their workers.
The Office of Congressional Workplace Rights is concerned with a spread of complaints towards members, not completely sexual harassment claims.
From January 1, 1996, by way of December 12, 2018, the workplace accredited 349 awards or settlements “to resolve complaints against legislative branch offices,” its basic counsel stated in a letter despatched to House Oversight Chair James Comer obtained by NCS. Eighty of these circumstances have been settled by a House or Senate workplace for a number of various causes. From that subset, seven circumstances led to funds to handle allegations of sexual harassment. The funds referenced in the letter used taxpayer cash from a Treasury account that now not exists as an choice for lawmakers.
Twenty-three case recordsdata of settlements in the jurisdiction of the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights have been destroyed pursuant to the workplace’s document retention coverage.
“This ‘OCWR Record Retention Policy’ was put in place in 2013 to align OCWR with regular government-wide record retention practices,” General Counsel John N. Ohlweiler wrote.
The basic language of the settlement contracts reviewed by NCS should not have the accused workplace admitting to any wrongdoing, however moderately state the workplace is agreeing to the settlement “to avoid the inconvenience of protracted litigation and the expense to the parties and the taxpayers of such litigation,” as one settlement learn. The settlement agreements additionally lay out how the workplace is supposed to deal with questions associated to the phrases or circumstances of the claimant’s termination of employment.
Following coverage adjustments made in 2018 in the wake of the #MeToo Movement, members might now not depend on taxpayer {dollars} for settlements. The House Ethics Committee introduced in a latest assertion that for the reason that enactment of the brand new regulation, “the Committee has not been notified of any awards or settlements relating to allegations of sexual harassment by a member.”
Mace named six former lawmakers or lawmakers’ places of work concerned in the settlements totaling more than $300,000 in an X put up on Monday. Most of the members named by the congresswoman resigned from Congress after publicly dealing with allegations of sexual misconduct, together with former Reps. John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat, and Blake Farenthold, a Texas Republican.
In a number of of those circumstances, it was publicly reported previous to their resignations that the member had used taxpayer funds for settlements.
NCS has tried to achieve out to both the previous member or a consultant for all six members named by Mace. Three of the previous lawmakers named by the congresswoman, together with Conyers and Farenthold, are deceased.
In 2017, the House Ethics Committee launched an investigation into Conyers, who on the time denied any wrongdoing, however didn’t dispute the existence of a settlement or fee. The documents present {that a} severance fee of over $27,000 and one other $50,000 settlement fee have been made on behalf of Conyers.
Farenthold resigned the identical yr, in 2018, whereas additionally dealing with an ethics probe. He denied among the allegations towards him, however apologized for utilizing inappropriate language and his function in making a hostile office and vowed to repay taxpayer cash used for a settlement. The documents present that an $84,000 settlement was made on Farenthold’s behalf.