Norton Introduces Bill to Offer Congressional Employees Same Workplace Protections, Including Sexual Harassment Provisions, as Other Federal and Private Sector Workers

Statement

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), who authored the nation's first sexual harassment guidance as the first woman to chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), today introduced a bill to subject Congress and its agencies to the same comprehensive civil rights laws and federal health and safety standards that currently apply to executive branch agencies and private sector employers, but not to Congress. Congress passed the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 (CAA) to bring the legislative branch under 13 major civil rights, labor and workplace safety and health laws, but it exempted the legislative branch from important notice and training provisions, and altogether omitted important substantive and administrative protections. Norton's bill provides general whistleblower protections, anti-retaliation measures, and makes applicable additional Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) provisions to the legislative branch, including providing subpoena authority to the Office of Compliance (OOC), which was established by the CAA, to conduct inspections and investigations into OSHA violations.

"As sexual harassment takes an increasingly high profile, it is impossible to justify exempting congressional offices from the comprehensive provisions Congress now requires of private employers and federal agencies, especially sexual harassment laws that protect workers, such as requiring employers to post workers' rights or to conduct training," Norton said. "The public debate on sexual harassment also raises the importance of granting congressional staff the same civil and anti-discrimination protections afforded to other federal workers. Congress must facilitate a workplace culture where employees feel protected and know their rights are protected. Particularly in a work environment such as Congress, where powerful figures often play an outsized role with a sense of their own importance, sexual harassment and other forms of discrimination must be met head on, especially by Members of Congress, who have compelled other institutions to observe strict standards."

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