A former staffer said she was harassed daily by Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., in a lawsuit she withdrew after a court denied her request to keep the complaint sealed, according to a report Tuesday — the second report in as many days which contains allegations of sexual harassment against the lawmaker.
The ex-scheduler claimed Conyers touched her “repeatedly and daily” from May to July, 2016, causing her to suffer “insomnia, anxiety, depression and chest pains,” per public documents obtained by BuzzFeed News that were filed at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in February.
The touching included “rubbing on her shoulders, kissing her forehead, covering and attempting to hold her hand,” as well as some instances in which the top Democrat urged her to come to his home, the woman alleged.
She said the stress she was experiencing was exacerbated by Conyers’ wife Monica Conyers calling her a “whore” and accusing her of wanting to have an affair with her husband.
The woman was terminated later in 2016 after she refused to share medical documentation with her superiors to justify a period of sick leave.
She had been seeking $39,000 in lost wages and damages; $15,000 for mental anguish and emotional distress; and $50,000 in punitive damages because Conyers was “a habitual, repeated offender.”
But she abandoned her complaint after her application for it to be sealed was denied.
The woman had also named Raymond Plowden, Conyers’ chief of staff, and Yolonda Lipsey, the congressman’s district director, in the suit for retaliation after she reported Conyers’ behavior.
This bevy of accusations is separate from the sexual harassment and wrongful dismissal complaint settled by Conyers in 2015 only reported on Monday.
The initial suit is now the subject of an investigation by the House Ethics Committee.
Conyers has strenuously denied all allegations.
BuzzFeed News was unable to reach Monica Conyers for comment. Lipsey and Plowden did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
