HOUSE OF REPS/LEGAL: “The House of Representatives disclosed Tuesday [12-19-17] that it paid more than $300,000 to settle discrimination and harassment claims against members’ offices during a five-year period, including $115,000 in three claims related to sexual harassment.
The data, comprising fiscal years 2008 through 2012, were released as Congress is grappling with claims of sexual misconduct among its members, and it has moved to disclose past settlements and overhaul how it deals with harassment claims…
The numbers released Tuesday by the House Administration Committee show claims involving sex, age and race discrimination that were paid out during the five-year period by the Office of Compliance, which handles harassment and discrimination complaints for Congress.
In total, $342,000 in public money was paid to settle 15 claims against lawmakers’ offices from fiscal 2008-2012. An additional $12,240 was paid to settle claims by “non-member-led offices.” Names of the lawmakers or staffers involved weren’t released…
Statistics for the Senate haven’t been released. Susan Tsui Grundmann, the executive director of the Office of Compliance, rejected the data request of Sen. Tim Kaine (D., Va.) on Monday, citing privacy rules and saying it had already given the Senate Rules Committee a statistical breakdown of settlement amounts involving Senate employing offices over the past two decades.”
-Natalie Andrews, “House Discloses Three Other Sexual-Harassment Settlements,” The Wall Street Journal online, Dec. 19, 2017 01:30pm