House reports $115K in sex harassment payouts
Committee OKs anti-harassment training for Congress, staffers
WASHINGTON – From 2008 to 2012, more than $342,000 in taxpayer funds have been paid to settle discrimination and harassment complaints involving members of the House, the chairman of the House Administration Committee said Tuesday.
Included in that larger total was
$115,000 for sexual harassment and harassment because of retaliation claims, according to the statement released by Rep. Gregg Harper, the Mississippi Republican who chairs the committee.
He gave a breakdown of sexual harassment-related payments relating to members of Congress after a public backlash to reports about a special Treasury fund that has paid the victims.
According to a previous report from the Office of Compliance, over $17 million has been paid out in settlements over a period of 20 years — 1997 to 2017.
Those settlements, however, included offices other than Congress and claims other than sexual harassment.
Harper said $342,225.85 was paid to settle different types of discrimination and harassment between 2008 and
2012, with $85,000 going toward “sexual harassment and harassment because of retaliation.” An addition $30,000 went to sex harassment-related payouts, including retaliation, for a total of $115,000, Harper’s statement says.
“One case of sexual harassment is one case too many. We must create a culture within our Capitol Hill community that instills in every employee and employer, new and old, that there is no place for sexual harassment in the halls of Congress,” Harper said. Through an anonymous source, Poli
tico reported that $84,000 was paid out to a former staffer of U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas. In December 2014, she filed a lawsuit in federal court accusing Farenthold of making sexually charged statements toward her and engaging in off-color behavior.
Later Tuesday, the Administration Committee unanimously approved guidelines for new mandatory anti-sexual harassment training for members of Congress and their staff.
Harper said the guidelines will “help cement what we’re trying to do, which is to have a sea change in the culture here.”
Under the House guidelines, staffers must take the training each session.
The committee will review the program each year. Each congressional office also is required to post a statement of employee rights.
Democrats praised the measure, but lawmakers from both sides said more needs to be done to overhaul the complaint process and disclose members who have had sexual harassment settlements.
Pennsylvania Rep. Robert Brady, the top Democrat on the committee, called the guideline approval “just a first step. There is more to do.’’
Rep. Barbara Comstock, R-Va., called Tuesday’s action part of the ongoing effort to address concerns about sexual harassment on Capitol Hill.
“I think this is going to be a floor not a ceiling,’’ Comstock said after the committee meeting.
Comstock, who has been among the lawmakers pushing for training and more, said the statistics released Tuesday help, but don’t tell the whole story of the number of people who may have been harassed.
“The most common situation is for it not be reported at all,” she said. “That doesn’t by any means tell you how many problems there are or are not … One case is too many.’’