$18.2 Million Congressional Slush Fund for #MeToo Claims
Since 1997, the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights has paid out $18.2 million to settle 291 cases of workplace disputes for Congress, the Capitol Police, the Architect of the Capitol, and the Library of Congress.
When news first broke of the settlement account, Congress was accused of having a veritable #MeToo slush fund to secretly pay off victims of sexual harassment. Reports surfaced that then-Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) negotiated a secret settlement with a female staffer who accused him of sexual misconduct, and the 88-year-old quickly resigned from Congress.
It turns out Conyers’ Congressional office budget paid out his sexual misconduct settlement, meaning that total wasn’t even included in the multi-million-dollar “slush” fund’s reported total.
Slowly, it has emerged that the fund, appropriated annually by Congress, includes payouts for workplace safety and pay disputes, in addition to sexual harassment claims, though many specifics are not reported.
Until June 18 of fiscal year 2018, two Senator’s offices and five House member’s offices had claims filed against them. An additional House member’s office had a case filed against it from June 19 through December 2019, out of the total 20 filed. Though 32 allegations of “Sex/Gender/Pregnancy” discrimination were filed in FY2018 and 28 were filed in FY2019, it is not known if those types of discrimination or harassment cases were against congressional offices or other offices under the fund.
A 2019 report noted 16 employees were paid a total of $600,363 in settlements, and while 20 claims were filed, just 16 appear to have been filed by protected class: three under “Sex/Gender/Pregnancy,” three under “National Origin,” four under “Disability,” and six under “Race/Color.”
After 23 years and $18 million in payouts from the Workplace Rights office, it seems like taxpayers might have a right to know more details.
Let’s open the books.
The #WasteOfTheDay is presented by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.
