ETHICS/LEGAL/POLITICAL FIGURES/WOMEN: “Rep. John Conyers (D., Mich.) acknowledged he settled a wrongful-dismissal claim in 2015 involving a former female employee, but denied allegations of sexual harassment.
Mr. Conyers on Tuesday [11-21-17] said he settled the complaint to avoid litigation. He added he would cooperate with any further investigation in the House. News of the settlement and that it was related to a sexual-harassment claim surfaced Monday…
Tuesday afternoon, the House Ethics Committee announced it had ‘begun an investigation and will gather additional information regarding these allegations.’ The committee keeps its investigations confidential and said it won’t make further public statements ‘pending completion of its initial review.’
The revelation adds to the sexual-misconduct claims that have been aired in recent months against powerful men in politics as well as in media and entertainment…
The Conyers case sheds light on how sexual-harassment cases are handled for congressional employees. There is no central human-resources department for congressional staff. Instead, the Office of Compliance handles sexual-harassment cases, and requires people who want to report an allegation to do so within 180 days of the harassment and go through confidential mediation…
Should a claim to the Office of Compliance result in a settlement, it is typically paid through an account in the U.S. Treasury. The Office of Compliance said last week that the government has paid more than $17 million in taxpayer money over the last 20 years to resolve claims of workplace violations, including sexual harassment, filed by employees of Congress. But the Conyers settlement was paid to the employee as salary out of Mr. Conyers’s office budget, according to the BuzzFeed report, not the Treasury account.”
-Natalie Andrews, “Conyers Settlement Shines Light on How Congress Handles Sexual Harassment,” The Wall Street Journal online, Nov. 22, 2017 10:11am