Elected city officials subject to anti-harassment policy
Legislation overturns accountability exemption
Acting Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson on Friday signed legislation making elected and appointed officials subject to the city’s anti-harassment policy more than a year after an investigation into City Attorney Tearman Spencer highlighted elected officials’ exemption from accountability.
“For any person, any employee who were to engage in any unbecoming behavior in the workplace, they should be put on notice that that behavior is totally unacceptable and won’t be tolerated by the city,” Johnson said during a public signing of the legislation in his office.
An investigation into allegations that Spencer harassed female staffers concluded in December 2020 that as an elected official he was not subject to the anti-harassment policy that applies to employees. Spencer has denied wrongdoing.
Ald. Michael Murphy and Ald. JoCasta Zamarripa led the charge on the legislation to change that, with Murphy publicly sparring with Spencer over it.
On Friday, Murphy called the measure “long overdue.”
Murphy said while the legislation was not about any specific person,
Spencer’s actions and behavior were the impetus behind it.
“Elected officials should not be exempt from these types of requirements,” Murphy said. “In fact, we should play the leadership role.”
The legislation directs the city’s Department of Employee Relations to update the city’s anti-harassment and workplace violence policy to include elected officials and appointees.
It states that the Department of Employee Relations can hold elected officials accountable up to a written warning. For a higher-level response, the department can defer to a city ordinance that under certain circumstances empowers a majority of the council to “dismiss from office” elected officials and appointees, except justices of the peace.
Department of Employee Relations Director Makda Fessahaye thanked employees who she said came forward to push for legislation like this.
“I think it’s really important to set an example from the top down, and I look forward to implementing this policy,” she said.
Another piece of legislation requiring ethics and harassment training for elected officials, cabinet members and appointees within 120 days of taking office and every four years after that also gained council approval in November. Former Mayor Tom Barrett signed that measure before leaving office to become ambassador to Luxembourg.