Sexual harassment complaints at the State Department began to increase significantly during Secretary Clinton’s tenure and continued throughout John Kerry’s time heading the sprawling agency, according to a State Department inspector general’s report released Thursday.
State Department Inspector General Steve Linick reviewed the entire work of the State Department’s Office of Civil Rights and found “a significant increase in reported harassment inquiries” between the fall of 2011 to fall of 2014.
The rise was significant enough to warrant the need for mandatory harassment training for State Department employees, the report found.
“The increase in reported harassment inquiries and requested training sessions supports the need for continuous education to department personnel,” it said, recommending mandatory online harassment training.
“Mandatory online harassment training … would make all department personnel aware of their responsibilities pertaining to harassment,” the report stated. “Such training also could assist the legal section by decreasing the number of in-person training sessions requested by department bureaus and posts.”
The Clinton campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
The report did not delve into the type of sexual harassment complaints that individuals filed, and did not provide a detailed accounting of how many harassment complaints employees filed for each year the inspector general’s office examined.
Instead, it simply stated that harassment complaints have increased from 88 cases in fiscal year 2011 to 248 in fiscal year 2014. Clinton was secretary from the beginning of Obama’s administration in 2009 until early 2013 when Kerry took over.
“With a continuous increase in harassment inquiries each fiscal year, the current staff risks not being able to sustain current work performance levels,” the report found.
The report also stressed that the State Department’s Office of Civil Rights attributed the sharp rise in harassment cases to increased outreach efforts to inform employees about the policies and complaint process.
“The [Office of Civil Rights] attributes this increase to improved outreach. According to [the office], department employees are more educated about harassment strictures and more knowledgeable about the reporting process than in the past,” the IG noted. It did not say whether Linick looked into the merits behind the assertion.
The report provided a broad breakdown of complaint types only for fiscal year 2014. It said 38 percent of formal complaints alleged “reprisal and sex discrimination” as reasons behind their grievances, and 43 percent alleged “harassment, promotion/non-selection and appointment/hire” as issues.
The Office of Civil Rights, which manages a budget of $1.12 million, is one of 10 office that falls directly under the authority of the secretary.
In 2013, the reports stated, Kerry issued a statement on discriminatory and sexual harassment stressing his commitment “to prevent and eliminate discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace.”
“Mandatory training for department employees would strengthen this message and ensure that all employees are aware of their responsibilities and rights,” the report said.
Kerry’s comments echoed a similar statement issued by Clinton in the late summer of 2010. At the time, Clinton said “discriminatory and sexual harassment erode the moral and the integrity of our workplace and undermine the activities of the department.”
“The success of the department’s work to create a more secure, democratic and prosperous world depends on the collective efforts of its diverse and talented workforce,” she said. “We must all ensure a positive and professional work environment in which all employees can contribute to our mission without fear of harassment.”
Clinton also said the department abides by a “zero tolerance policy” regarding both discriminatory and sexual harassment.
“All allegations of harassment will be promptly investigated and addressed, and the department will take immediate action to halt unwelcome behavior should it find that harassment has occurred,” she said. “Leadership will be held accountable for the standard it sets for the workforce.”
Despite these strong directives from Clinton, the inspector general found that the legal section of the Office of Civil Rights, which oversees the department’s harassment complaint process, needs to take disciplinary action more quickly.
“One matter expressed during this inspection, as well as a previous OIG inspection, is the need for action offices to process cases sent for their action in a more timely matter,” the inspector general found. “Senior Department officials must emphasize the need for action offices to process cases in a timely manner and hold individuals accountable for their inappropriate actions.”
Aside from the rise in harassment complaints, the IG report showed several areas of positive improvement, including in the quality and quantity of the work the Office of Civil Rights takes on.
The report’s top finding said this improvement is enabling the office “to fulfill its mandate of propagating fairness, equity and inclusion.”
It noted, however, that the internal operations of the office would benefit from a “rebalancing of workload, a reassessment of position grades, and completion of delinquent performance evaluations.”
It also said there are shortcomings in the Equal Employment Opportunity Counselor program, but said “the Office of Civil Rights is taking steps to address them.”
