Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) is under scrutiny after a former staffer released a text exchange in which the congresswoman blamed her for giving her COVID-19.
The exchange garnered attention after it was shared on the Dear White Staffers Twitter account, which shares stories of workplace grievances and advocates a better work environment for Hill staffers. While the account tweeted that the staffer was fired after both she and Porter contracted the coronavirus, the congresswoman’s office said she was a fellow whose contract was almost up.
CONGRESSIONAL STAFFERS GAIN TRACTION IN PUSH TO UNIONIZE HOUSE OFFICES
VIBE CHECK: Rep. Katie Porter fires staffer after both test positive for COVID. Full texts from the Congresswoman firing the staffer via text. Shared with permission from staffer. pic.twitter.com/jbhn2NzrmB
— Dear White Staffers (@DWS________) December 29, 2022
“I cannot allow you back in the office, given your failure to follow office policies,” Porter wrote in the screenshots of the exchange with staffer Sasha Georgiades. “Cody will be in touch about having your personal effects shipped or delivered to your home, and will lay out your remote work schedule and responsibilities for your last few weeks.”
After Georgiades profusely apologized, Porter responded, “Well you gave me Covid. In 25 months, it took you not following the rules to get me sick. My children have nobody to care for them.”
Porter’s office told the Washington Examiner in a statement, “This former employee was not fired. She was a fellow in our office, and weeks before she breached COVID protocol in July, we had already mutually agreed on an end date in August 2022. Congresswoman Porter was informing her that she would work from home for the remaining three weeks of her fellowship.”
In an interview with Reason, Georgiades said the office protocol she didn’t adhere to was testing as soon as she felt ill.
“At the time I felt okay, just sore as if had worked out too hard,” she told the outlet. “It was hard to differentiate until the next morning and as soon as I felt sick I took a test, told the district director I had it, and stayed home.”
She added that Porter was scheduled to be in Washington, D.C., that week and wouldn’t have been with her three children in California anyway, as well as that Porter continued to attend in-person events after she knew she had been exposed to the virus. Porter’s office said that “following knowledge of COVID exposure, Congresswoman Porter tested twice daily and only attended in-person gatherings after negative results.”
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Georgiades is a Navy veteran and was in Porter’s office on a Wounded Warrior fellowship. She told reporter Nicholas Wu that Porter never spoke to her again following the exchange and was discouraged from continuing a career in politics by the experience.
Dear White Staffers has encouraged offices to unionize to help congressional aides secure better working conditions.
