California Rep. Jackie Speier said Congress needs a massive overhaul of its sexual harassment policies because the system, as it’s set up currently, oppresses women and one office is an “enabler of sexual harassment.”
Speier told CBS’ “Face The Nation” sexual harassment right now is worse than it’s ever been in Congress.
“It’s worse in part because we have a system in place that allows for the harasser to go unchecked, doesn’t pay for the settlement himself and is never identified,” she said. “The Office of Compliance, to which victim must apply or complain, is a place that has really been an enabler of sexual harassment for these many years because of the way it’s constructed.”
Speier is a part of a group of female lawmakers who are working to pass a bill updating the Congress’ sexual harassment policies.
She said the current process basically involves a “cooling off period” that she feels is used to intimidate women out of making sexual harassment complaints.
“Well, first of all, we have to make sure that a complaint is taken seriously. And that the person who is the victim is not somehow tortured or intimidated into not filing the complaint,” she said. “
That’s what it is right now in Congress. There’s a one-month period where you’re counseled, another month where you go to mandatory mediation. You have to sign a non-disclosure agreement at the front end. A month of cooling off period, that is truly ridiculous.”
