{"id":6708,"date":"2018-01-19T12:00:43","date_gmt":"2018-01-19T12:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/multiracial.com\/?p=6708"},"modified":"2018-02-26T05:27:46","modified_gmt":"2018-02-26T05:27:46","slug":"coalition-letter-on-h-r-4396-the-me-too-congress-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/19\/coalition-letter-on-h-r-4396-the-me-too-congress-act\/","title":{"rendered":"Coalition Letter on H.R. 4396, the ME TOO Congress Act"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>January 19, 2018<\/p>\n<p>Hon. Paul Ryan<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Speaker,<\/span>\u00a0U.S. House of Representatives<br \/>\n1233 Longworth House Office Building<br \/>\nWashington, D.C. 20510<\/p>\n<p>Hon. Nancy Pelosi<br \/>\nDemocratic Leader, U.S. House of Representatives<br \/>\n233 Cannon House Office Building<br \/>\nWashington, D.C. 20510<\/p>\n<p>Hon. Gregg Harper<br \/>\nChairman<br \/>\nCommittee on House Administration<br \/>\n1310 Longworth House Office Building<br \/>\nWashington, D.C. 20510<\/p>\n<p>Hon. Robert Brady<br \/>\nRanking Member<br \/>\nCommittee on House Administration<br \/>\n1310 Longworth House Office Building<br \/>\nWashington, D.C. 20510<\/p>\n<p>Dear Speaker Ryan, Leader Pelosi, Chairman Harper, and Ranking Member Brady:<\/p>\n<p>As organizations committed to advancing and protecting civil and human rights, equality, access\u00a0to justice, and transparency, we write to express our appreciation for your efforts to address the\u00a0problem of sexual harassment in Congress, including holding hearings last fall and requiring all\u00a0House members and their staff to participate in mandatory anti-harassment and antidiscrimination\u00a0training.<\/p>\n<p>We hope that these steps are only the first of many and urge you, as you move forward, to ensure\u00a0that any reforms of the existing system look beyond the current crisis, and seek to implement\u00a0broad, meaningful changes that will benefit the entire legislative workforce and set an example\u00a0for the nation. Specifically, we encourage you to move quickly to consider H.R. 4396, the ME\u00a0TOO Congress Act, currently before the House Administration Committee, or other similar\u00a0legislation, and to ensure that any final legislation includes the recommendations below to\u00a0prevent and remedy workplace harassment and discrimination and ensure a safe and fair\u00a0workplace culture in Congress.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, while this current moment is focused on sexual harassment, no one employed by the\u00a0legislative branch should be subjected to harassment on the basis of any protected\u00a0characteristic\u2014and Congress must ensure that any reforms also apply to claims of workplace\u00a0discrimination based on sex (including sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy and\u00a0childbirth), race, disability, age, ethnicity\/national origin, color, religion, marital status, and\u00a0status as a parent.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Background<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Workplace harassment, including sexual harassment, is a pervasive problem in the United States.\u00a0Despite the longstanding prohibitions against sexual harassment and sexual assault, these\u00a0behaviors continue to infect our workplaces and deny workers equal employment opportunities,\u00a0safety, and dignity. For too long, victims of harassment and assault have lived in silence because\u00a0of fear of jeopardizing their safety, jobs, financial security, and career prospects, while too often\u00a0perpetrators &#8212; often powerful men &#8212; have escaped accountability for their actions, enabled by many who have turned a blind eye to these transgressions. As recent events have demonstrated,\u00a0no workplace is immune from harassment, whether in the entertainment industry, restaurant\u00a0kitchens, or the halls of Congress.<\/p>\n<p>In 2017, it was reported that four in 10 women on congressional staff said that sexual harassment\u00a0is a problem on Capitol Hill, and a whopping \u201cone in six said they personally had been\u00a0victimized.\u201d[note]https:\/\/www.rollcall.com\/news\/predatory-behavior-capitol-hill-sexual-harassment[\/note] But in contrast to federal agencies and many private workplaces, the legislative\u00a0branch workforce lacks a comprehensive system to enable employees and other staff who have\u00a0been harassed to report safely; to respond to complaints; to assess culpability; and to impose\u00a0appropriate penalties based on fair and transparent principles that are consistently applied.\u00a0Moreover, the avenues for protection and redress that do currently exist through the underresourced\u00a0Office of Compliance are largely unknown to many employees, place many obstacles\u00a0in the way of those bringing complaints of harassment, and do not serve as a deterrent to\u00a0offenders.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Recommendations<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>1. Improve the Reporting and Dispute Resolution Process and Expand Coverage and\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Protections.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Congressional Accountability Act (CAA) must be amended to ensure the legislative branch\u00a0workforce enjoys robust protection from and appropriate remedies for harassment and other\u00a0forms of discrimination. Any reforms should ensure that:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Protections against harassment and employment discrimination are extended to those not\u00a0currently covered, including interns, fellows, detailees, and pages;<\/li>\n<li>Participation in mediation and counseling is optional and not a prerequisite to initiating a\u00a0complaint or lawsuit;<\/li>\n<li>Nondisclosure agreements are neither a prerequisite to initiating a complaint nor a mandatory\u00a0condition of settlement;<\/li>\n<li>No 30-day \u201ccooling off\u201d period is imposed before a complainant can file an administrative\u00a0complaint with the Office of Compliance or file a lawsuit in U.S. District Court;<\/li>\n<li>Harassment and discrimination complainants are given meaningful advice and support\u00a0through, for example, a legal counsel program;<\/li>\n<li>The Office of Compliance is provided new investigative and subpoena authorities in order to evaluate complaints in a prompt and thorough manner;<\/li>\n<li>Whistleblower protections are extended to all those covered by the CAA to include the rights and remedies enjoyed by most federal employees under the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act. Whistleblower protections should also provide the legislative workforce with access to a jury to challenge retaliation, rights against retaliatory investigations and prosecutions, and accountability for retaliators;<\/li>\n<li>If a retaliation claim should later arise, that retaliation claim relates back to the initial filing, meaning that complainants are not required to file a second formal complaint; and<\/li>\n<li>All notice-posting requirements regarding federal anti-discrimination, anti-harassment, and other workplace rights laws covered by the CAA are made applicable to the legislative branch, so that employing offices and staff are informed of their rights.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>2. Ensure Greater Accountability and Increase Transparency.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Elected officials should be held to the highest ethical and professional standards and, as stewards of public trust, must be held accountable. Thus, it is critical that:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Where taxpayer funds are used to settle a claim that a member of Congress has unlawfully\u00a0harassed or discriminated against a legislative staff member, the member of Congress should\u00a0personally reimburse the Treasury for funds expended on his\/her behalf as expeditiously as\u00a0possible; and<\/li>\n<li>Use of office funds to pay settlement amounts should be disallowed, and the number of\u00a0settlements, settlement amounts, and the employing office should periodically be made\u00a0public in a report that is transparent and accessible, while balancing the privacy and\u00a0confidentiality of the complainants.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Moreover, because workplace harassment and discrimination encompass a range of actions, the\u00a0Office of Compliance and leaders in Congress should develop guidelines that identify harassing\u00a0and discriminatory conduct, the proportionate corrective actions and sanctions that may be\u00a0assessed when violations are substantiated, and the process for doing so. These guidelines should\u00a0be made available to the entire legislative workforce and the general public and should be\u00a0consistently applied, thereby establishing expectations for behavior and promoting accountability\u00a0for members of Congress and legislative branch staff.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3. Implement Comprehensive Prevention Practices.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Preventing workplace harassment and discrimination must be a top priority and goal of every\u00a0member of Congress and leader in the legislative workforce. Those prevention practices should\u00a0include the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Every office should be required to have strong anti-discrimination and anti-harassment\u00a0policies in place that help employees understand what prohibited conduct looks like; explain\u00a0how to report harassment or discrimination within the office or to the Office of Compliance\u00a0and provide multiple avenues for reporting; outline the process for investigating and responding to complaints; assure confidentiality; detail the consequences for harassment,\u00a0discrimination and retaliation; and provide internal and external resources for support,\u00a0including information about the role of the Office of Compliance.<\/li>\n<li>While codification of the annual mandatory sexual harassment training should be included in\u00a0any CAA reform package, the training itself must do more than merely seek to ensure\u00a0compliance with the law, and instead should help instill a culture of respect within the\u00a0congressional workplace; enable members of the legislative workforce to understand their\u00a0rights and responsibilities; empower them to intervene in a situation or to report safely\u00a0without retaliation; and most importantly, set out standards that will ensure that members of\u00a0Congress and their staff do not engage in conduct that leads to a workplace culture that\u00a0increases the likelihood of unlawful behavior.<\/li>\n<li>The creation and implementation of a regular, anonymous climate survey of the legislative\u00a0workforce will help offices understand the true nature and scope of harassment and\u00a0discrimination in Congress and any failures in the policies and procedures designed to\u00a0prevent and address harassment and discrimination.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Finally, in order to ensure the changes outlined in this letter can achieve the stated goals of\u00a0preventing and remedying harassment and discrimination in the legislative workforce, the Office\u00a0of Compliance must have the additional resources, authorities, and access to staff and members\u00a0of Congress needed to do its job effectively.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The above recommendations reflect some of the changes that are needed to the legislative\u00a0workforce\u2019s reporting and dispute resolution process and are not exhaustive. Our organizations\u00a0have a wealth of expertise and stand ready to assist you in any way that we can and look forward\u00a0to working with you on this critical issue.<\/p>\n<p>For questions or to contact the coalition, please contact Vania Leveille at the American Civil\u00a0Liberties Union (vleveille@aclu.org), Joi Chaney at Equal Pay Today\u00a0(jchaney@tidescenter.org), June Zeitlin at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human\u00a0Rights (zeitlin@civilrights.org), Maya Raghu at the National Women\u2019s Law Center (mraghu@nwlc.org), and Remington A. Gregg at Public Citizen (rgregg@citizen.org).<\/p>\n<p>Sincerely,<\/p>\n<p>9to5, National Association of Working Women<br \/>\nAccess Now<br \/>\nAdvocates for Youth<br \/>\nAffiliation of Christian Engineers<br \/>\nAlianza Nacional de Campesinas<br \/>\nAlliance for Justice<br \/>\nAmerican Association of University Women (AAUW)<br \/>\nAmerican Atheists<br \/>\nAmerican Association for Access, Equity and Diversity<br \/>\nAmerican Association of People with Disabilities<br \/>\nAmerican Civil Liberties Union<br \/>\nAmerican Federation of Government Employees<br \/>\nAmericans for Democratic Action (ADA)<br \/>\nAmerican Federation of Teachers<br \/>\nAmerican Islamic Conference<br \/>\nAmerican-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee<br \/>\nAsian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO<br \/>\nAutistic Self Advocacy Network<br \/>\nCenter for Justice &amp; Democracy<br \/>\nCenterLink: The Community of LGBT Centers<br \/>\nCentro de los Derechos del Migrante, Inc. (CDM)<br \/>\nChicago Workers\u2019 Collaborative<br \/>\nCitizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW)<br \/>\nCoalition of Labor Union Women<br \/>\nCongregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, US Provinces<br \/>\nConsumers for Auto Reliability and Safety<br \/>\nCouncil on American-Islamic Relations<br \/>\nDemand Progress Action<br \/>\nEarthjustice<br \/>\nEconomic Policy Institute Policy Center<br \/>\nEqual Pay Today<br \/>\nEqual Rights Advocates<br \/>\nEquality California<br \/>\nFaith in Public Life<br \/>\nFederally Employed Women<br \/>\nFORGE, Inc.<br \/>\nFutures Without Violence<br \/>\nGLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBT Equality<br \/>\nGovernment Accountability Project<br \/>\nGovernment Information Watch<br \/>\nGovTrack.us<br \/>\nHadassah, The Women&#8217;s Zionist Organization of America, Inc.<br \/>\nHip Hop Caucus<br \/>\nHuman Rights Campaign<br \/>\nImpact Fund<br \/>\nInterfaith Worker Justice<br \/>\nLabor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA)<br \/>\nLambda Legal<br \/>\nThe Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights<br \/>\nLegal Momentum, The Women&#8217;s Legal Defense and Education Fund<br \/>\nMazzoni Center<br \/>\nMomsRising<br \/>\nMulticultural Efforts to end Sexual Assault<br \/>\nThe Multiracial Activist<br \/>\nNAACP<br \/>\nNAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.<br \/>\nNational Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd<br \/>\nNational Alliance to End Sexual Violence<br \/>\nNational Asian Pacific American Women&#8217;s Forum (NAPAWF)<br \/>\nNational Association of Human Rights Workers<br \/>\nNational Association of Social Workers<br \/>\nNational Black Justice Coalition<br \/>\nNational Center for Lesbian Rights<br \/>\nNational Center for Transgender Equality<br \/>\nNational Congress of American Indians<br \/>\nNational COSH<br \/>\nNational Council of Jewish Women<br \/>\nNational Education Association<br \/>\nNational Employment Law Project<br \/>\nNational Employment Lawyers Association<br \/>\nNational Equality Action Team (NEAT)<br \/>\nNational LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund<br \/>\nNational Medical Malpractice Advocacy Association<br \/>\nNational Organization for Women<br \/>\nNational Partnership for Women &amp; Families<br \/>\nNational Resource Center on Domestic Violence<br \/>\nNational Women\u2019s Law Center<br \/>\nNational Whistleblower Center<br \/>\nOpen the Government<br \/>\nOrganizacion en California de Lideres Campesinas, Inc.<br \/>\nOxfam<br \/>\nOutserve &#8211; SLDN<br \/>\nPeople For the American Way<br \/>\nPlanned Parenthood Federation of America<br \/>\nProject On Government Oversight<br \/>\nPride at Work<br \/>\nPublic Citizen<br \/>\nSenior Executives Association<br \/>\nService Employees International Union (SEIU)<br \/>\nSociety of American Archivists<br \/>\nSouthwest Women&#8217;s Law Center<br \/>\nState Innovation Exchange (SiX)<br \/>\nStop Street Harassment<br \/>\nSunlight Foundation<br \/>\nUnited Auto Workers<br \/>\nThe United State of Women<br \/>\nUnion for Reform Judaism<br \/>\nURGE: Unite for Reproductive &amp; Gender Equity<br \/>\nWomen Employed<br \/>\nWomen for Economic Justice<br \/>\nWomen of Reform Judaism<br \/>\nWoodhull Freedom Foundation<br \/>\nWorker Justice Center of NY<br \/>\nVoices for Progress<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>January 19, 2018 Hon. Paul Ryan Speaker,\u00a0U.S. House of Representatives 1233 Longworth House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Hon. Nancy Pelosi Democratic Leader, U.S. House of Representatives 233 Cannon House Office Building Washington, D.C.&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":4169,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[60],"tags":[216],"class_list":["post-6708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-letters-to-government-agencies-signed-by-tma","tag-sexual-violence"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p89tuq-1Kc","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Advocacy-Work.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6708"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6708\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6710,"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6708\/revisions\/6710"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}