Harassment complaints continued in Capitol after shift to working at home, report says

The arm of the California Legislature charged with investigating complaints of harassment, discrimination and retaliation says it received 80 complaints over the past year, at a time when most Capitol employees were working from home.

The report summarizes the second full year of operations for the Legislature’s Workplace Conduct Unit, a nonpartisan body within the Office of Legislative Counsel that was created in 2019 to assess complaints made by employees lawmakers, and third parties against legislative employees.

The purpose of the unit is to protect employees from discrimination, harassment, or retaliation on the basis of protected class, such as sex, race, religion, gender and many others. Conduct that violates discrimination policies includes, but isn’t limited to, slurs, jokes, gestures, pictures or cartoons that related to a protected class.

The report comes almost one year after the Legislature suspended its calendar and sent most staff to work from home due to the coronavirus.

Of the 80 cases opened between Jan. 28, 2020 and Feb. 1, 2021, 57 cases were resolved, according to a letter sent to all legislative staff on Thursday.

“The pandemic has removed us from typical working conditions in which people tend to be in close proximity and that has likewise impacted the number of allegations received,” Assembly and State Senate leaders wrote in a letter to staff. “As such, comparing data derived during the pandemic to that which was reported last year from 2019 may not be the best measure, but we feel it is important to do nonetheless.”

The effort to address workplace discrimination within the Capitol began late 2017, when dozens of women spoke out against sexual harassment in California politics. The campaign, dubbed “We Said Enough” took hold alongside the national “Me Too” movement, and eventually culminated in the California Legislature changing its policies on how it handles harassment complaints and investigations.

The Workplace Conduct Unit employs trained investigators who conduct independent investigations into allegations of misconduct. If needed, the case is then presented to a panel of independent employment experts, which reviews the report and evidence, and makes recommendations to the Senate Rules Committee and/or the Assembly Speaker.

In its first year of operation, the unit received 181 complaints, with 85 resolved. Combined with the recent figures, the unit has resolved 81% of all 261 complaints it has received since its inception.

“This number illustrates a significant improvement in the efficacy of our processes since one year ago,” Workplace Conduct Unit Director Julia Johnson wrote in a letter to lawmakers this week.

Legislative staff can report complaints to the Workplace Conduct Unit online or by calling 877-231-5956.

This story was originally published February 11, 2021 at 3:33 PM.