$342,000 paid out to quell work bias charges at U.S. House
WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department paid more than $342,000 to settle workplace discrimination disputes at House lawmakers’ offices between 2008 and 2012, including nearly $175,000 for eight settlements related to sexual harassment and sex discrimination accusations.
The payouts included a $85,000 settlement in a claim against former congressman Eric Massa.
The new numbers were released Tuesday by the House Office of Compliance, the taxpayer-funded office that handles the often-secret payouts to House employees. The information reveals three previously undisclosed settlements for sexual harassment. It does not identify the accusers. It was not clear whether the cases involved accusations against a lawmaker or a member of their staff.
The Treasury payments offer a partial accounting of money used to deal with sexual harassment allegations. Some House members have used office funds to pay “severance” packages to employees in an effort to resolve potential or existing workplace claims.
Massa, D-N.Y., resigned in March 2010 amid allegations that he had groped and tickled male staff members. The $85,000 settlement was negotiated after the accuser filed a claim through the congressional Office of Compliance. The 2010 payment came from a Treasury account that has recently come under scrutiny for providing taxpayer money to settle sexual harassment and other complaints against lawmakers.
James Doyle, an attorney for Massa, said Massa can neither confirm nor deny any specific Office of Compliance “settlements alleged to have arisen during his tenure due to the fact that he neither consented to nor authorized any such settlements and therefore has no direct knowledge.”
Lawmakers and their offices are represented by the Office of House Employment Counsel throughout the settlement process.
The information sheds additional light on the system lawmakers use to quietly manage workplace complaints against them and their staff members.
The Office of Compliance previously disclosed the existence of six settlements out of the Treasury fund between 2013 and this year, totaling $359,450. Only one complaint to the office, which runs a mandatory counseling and mediation process, in the past five years involved a claim of sexual harassment.
Little is known about settlements involving Senate offices.