The Council of the United States Federal Reserve received 11 complaints against individuals alleging sexual harassment between 2020 and 2023 and took disciplinary action against nine staff members as a result, firing four of them, according to a document the central bank released last month.
The disclosure provides a rare glimpse into how the central bank has handled sexual harassment cases that have not led to formal complaints that agencies are legally required to disclose under federal discrimination laws.
Between 2020 and 2023, the council issued “last chance” warnings to four staff members for sexual harassment and fired four others for sexual harassment “and other employment concerns,” according to the list, which Reuters obtained under a request from the Freedom of Information Law presented last year.
The Council also revealed three other complaints of sexual harassment. In two of those cases, the Council said it took no action because one of the allegations was “unsupported,” and the other was made against a person who was not a Fed employee. Another staffer was “counseled on communications.” “unprofessional,” according to the list of disciplinary actions taken under the Council’s harassment policy. No further details were given.
“Sexual harassment has no place in our society and is prohibited at the Federal Reserve,” said a spokesman for the Council, which had more than 3,100 employees last year. “We have a zero-tolerance policy that prohibits all forms of harassment, even if the behavior does not violate the law.”
Although federal regulators must disclose the number of equal employment opportunity (EEO) harassment complaints filed against the agency under anti-discrimination laws, They are not usually required to disclose disciplinary measures taken against individuals in the absence of such formal complaints when the behavior complained of may not violate the law.
As a result, it is unclear how the Federal Reserve data provided to Reuters compares with that of other agencies.
When it comes to EEO complaints, the Federal Reserve appears to have a favorable situation. It reported no sexual harassment complaints between 2020 and 2023, according to its annual reports. Among the nine federal financial regulators, only three others also reported no EEO complaints in that period.
Allegations of misconduct
The reports of The Wall Street Journal last year that revealed widespread misconduct in the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) put the issue of sexual harassment in banking agencies in the spotlight, ultimately forcing FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg to promise to resign.
According to research conducted in May, More than 500 people had reported a widespread environment of sexual misconduct, racism and bullying. However, between 2020 and 2023, the agency only reported five EEO complaints alleging sexual harassment.
The Fed data revealed to Reuters further underscores how EEO reports are unlikely to tell the full story.
Employment attorneys who represent federal workers say there are several reasons why sexual harassment cases could result in disciplinary action without producing formal EEO complaints.
According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commissionbefore filing a complaint, federal workers must undergo at least 30 days of counseling, during which EEO counselors may attempt to resolve the matter informally.
Ariel Solomon, an employment lawyer whose clients include public officials who file sexual harassment complaints, also noted that the goal of the EEO complaint process is to allow workers to seek redress from their employers, rather than to impose disciplinary measures on employers. authors. This means that Harassment cases do not always have to lead to formal complaints.
“I think it’s fair to say that the fact The fact that no data has been produced does not mean that there is no sexual harassment” he said, referring to EEO data from federal agencies. “Certainly, we know that some of the complaints were serious enough that a termination was absolutely appropriate.”
After the information that the WSJ published about the FDIC in November 2023, Fed Director of Supervision and Regulation Michael Gibson and Marta Chaffee, an associate director in the same division, sent emails to staff warning that similar conduct would not be tolerated at the Fed, according to separate records Reuters also obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. “Sexual harassment and retaliation have no place on any team,” Chaffee wrote.
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