March 19, 2018<\/p>\n
Hon. Mitch McConnell
\nMajority Leader
\nU.S. Senate
\n317 Russell Senate Office Building
\nWashington, DC 20510<\/p>\n
Hon. Charles Schumer
\nMinority Leader
\nU.S. Senate
\n322 Hart Senate Office Building
\nWashington, DC 20510<\/p>\n
Dear Senators McConnell and Schumer:<\/p>\n
As organizations committed to advancing and protecting civil and human rights, equality, access\u00a0to justice, and transparency, we urge the Senate to act quickly to address discrimination and\u00a0harassment within the legislative workforce.<\/p>\n
Despite 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 \u2013 often powerful men \u2013 have escaped accountability for their actions, enabled by\u00a0many who have turned a blind eye to these transgressions. No workplace is free of harassment,\u00a0whether in the entertainment industry, restaurant kitchens, or the halls of Congress.<\/p>\n
It has been reported that four in 10 women on congressional staff said that sexual harassment is a\u00a0problem on Capitol Hill, and a whopping \u201cone in six said they personally had been victimized.\u201d[note]http:\/\/www.rollcall.com\/news\/predatory-behavior-capitol-hill-sexual-harassment<\/a>[\/note]\u00a0Additionally, the revelations over the past several months of misconduct by members of Congress\u00a0and staff members show that the problem is real and these numbers are perhaps only the tip of the\u00a0iceberg.<\/p>\n Given the severity of the harm and urgency of the moment, we applauded House passage of H.R.\u00a04924, the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 Reform Act and H. Res. 724 and we believe\u00a0that they provide a strong foundation for Senate action. Your colleagues in the House of\u00a0Representatives worked on a bipartisan basis to pass strong reforms expeditiously. The American\u00a0people expect no less from the United States Senate.<\/p>\n Improvements to H.R. 4924<\/strong><\/p>\n We recommend the following improvements to H.R. 4924:<\/p>\n We also support extending the protections in the CAA to individuals alleging discrimination or\u00a0harassment under the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008.<\/p>\n The Senate bill must include the reforms passed in H. Res. 724.<\/strong><\/p>\n While the nation awaits Senate consideration of H.R. 4924, the House has already begun\u00a0implementing the crucial reforms contained in H. Res. 724. One of the most important reforms,\u00a0and one we consider essential to the effectiveness of any new statutory scheme to address\u00a0harassment and discrimination, is the creation of an Office of Employee Advocacy, which would\u00a0provide legal assistance, counsel, and representation to staff as they maneuver through the\u00a0internal CAA process. This office would play a critical role in leveling the playing field between\u00a0employing offices and staff who otherwise may be intimidated and overwhelmed by the CAA\u00a0process and\/or cannot afford legal counsel. The dedicated women and men who work in the\u00a0legislative workforce deserve nothing less.[note]https:\/\/www.rollcall.com\/news\/politics\/harassment-resources-legislative-employees<\/a>[\/note]<\/p>\n The House Resolution also mandates that House offices adopt anti-harassment and antidiscrimination\u00a0policies. Any Senate reforms must do the same, as such internal policies are the\u00a0minimum baseline of efforts to prevent workplace harassment and discrimination.<\/p>\n * * *<\/strong><\/p>\n While the above recommendations are not exhaustive, they reflect some of the key changes that\u00a0are needed to strengthen the legislative workforce\u2019s reporting and dispute resolution process. Our\u00a0organizations have a wealth of expertise and stand ready to assist you. We look forward to\u00a0working with you in the coming days.<\/p>\n For questions please contact Vania Leveille at the American Civil Liberties Union\u00a0(vleveille@aclu.org), Joi Chaney at Equal Pay Today (jchaney@tidescenter.org), June Zeitlin at\u00a0The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights (zeitlin@civilrights.org), Maya Raghu at\u00a0the National Women\u2019s Law Center (mraghu@nwlc.org), and Remington A. Gregg at Public\u00a0Citizen (rgregg@citizen.org).<\/p>\n Sincerely,<\/p>\n A Better Balance CC: Members of the United States Senate<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" March 19, 2018 Hon. Mitch McConnell Majority Leader U.S. Senate 317 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 Hon. Charles Schumer Minority Leader U.S. Senate 322 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 Dear...<\/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":[60,9],"tags":[142,216],"class_list":["post-6712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-letters-to-government-agencies-signed-by-tma","category-advocacy-and-letters","tag-advocacy-letters","tag-sexual-violence"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p89tuq-1Kg","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\/6712","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=6712"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6713,"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6712\/revisions\/6713"}],"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=6712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\nAmerican Association of People with Disabilities
\nAmerican Association of University Women
\nAmerican Atheists
\nAmerican Civil Liberties Union
\nAtlanta Women for Equality
\nCalifornia Women’s Law Center
\nCenter for Justice & Democracy
\nCenterLink: The Community of LGBT Centers
\nCoalition of Labor Union Women
\nCommunication Workers of America
\nCongregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, US Provinces
\nConnecticut Council on Occupational Safety and Health
\nConsumer Action
\nEarthjustice
\nThe Employee Rights Advocacy Institute For Law & Policy
\nEqual Pay Today
\nEqual Rights Advocates
\nEquality California
\nEquality North Carolina
\nFederally Employed Women
\nFutures Without Violence
\nGLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBT Equality
\nGovernment Accountability Project
\nGovernment Information Watch
\nGovTrack.us
\nHuman Rights Campaign
\nInterfaith Worker Justice
\nKidsAndCars.org
\nLambda Legal
\nThe Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
\nLegal Momentum, The Women’s Legal Defense and Education Fund
\nMazzoni Center
\nThe Multiracial Activist
\nNAACP
\nNational Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd
\nNational Alliance to End Sexual Violence
\nNational Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF)
\nNational Association of Consumer Advocates
\nNational Black Justice Coalition
\nNational Center for Transgender Equality
\nNational Council for Occupational Safety and Health
\nNational Council of Jewish Women
\nNational Education Association
\nNational Employment Law Project
\nNational Employment Lawyers Association
\nNational Equality Action Team (NEAT)
\nNational Medical Malpractice Advocacy Association
\nNational Organization for Women
\nNational Partnership for Women & Families
\nNational Resource Center on Domestic Violence
\nNational Whistleblower Center
\nNational Women’s Law Center
\nOrganizational Name
\nPeople For the American Way
\nPFLAG National
\nProject On Government Oversight
\nProtect All Children’s Environment
\nPublic Citizen
\nSargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law
\nService Employees International Union (SEIU)
\nSouthwest Women’s Law Center
\nUltraViolet
\nUnion for Reform Judaism
\nUnite for Reproductive & Gender Equity
\nVoices for Progress
\nWisCOSH, Inc.
\nWomen Employed
\nWomen of Reform Judaism
\nWomen’s Law Project<\/p>\n