The Senate Rules and Administration Committee released on Thursday statistical data about sexual harassment settlements reached in the chamber in the past two decades.
The breakdown which was provided by the Office of Compliance included a total of 23 settlements for claims involving Senate offices, amounting to $1.45 million paid with taxpayer money. The office also said that it considered sexual harassment a category of sex discrimination.
“Traditionally, the OOC has not separated allegations of sexual harassment from those involving sex-based disparate treatment or pregnancy discrimination,” it said in a letter to Senator Tim Kaine sent in response to his request for additional information.
“In fact, for many years, the Office simply classified all claims alleging discrimination of any kind as civil rights cases without any further differentiation. Thus, there are claims in our files that are classified in the category of ‘civil rights’ which may or may not contain an allegation of sex-based discrimination. Further, there are claims classified as sex discrimination which may not involve allegations of sexual harassment,” the agency continued.
Kaine’s request was rejected due to the Congressional Accountability Act’s confidentiality rules.
Senator Richard Shelby, the chairman of the Rules Committee, pointed out their priority is to protect the victims of sexual harassment and noted that he would not release the information as of now due to confidentiality requirements.
“While the Rules Committee has been eager to provide this information in a transparent manner, it has been our priority to protect the victims involved in these settlements from further harm.”
A spokeswoman for the committee said the chairman was “concerned with the reliability of the data provided by the Office of Compliance and the extent to which that data may implicate the various confidentiality requirements of the Congressional Accountability Act.”
Be the first to comment