Letter to the Hon. Gregg Harper, Chairman of the House Administration Committee and the Hon. Robert Brady, Ranking Member of the House Administration Committee - Norton Requests to Testify at Hearing on Sexual Harassment in Congress

Letter

Dear Chairman Harper and Ranking Member Brady:

I write to request to testify at the House Administration Committee's hearing on November 14, 2017, which will focus on sexual harassment awareness training. I understand that the committee is reviewing the House's sexual harassment policies, and I believe that my past role as Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) could provide valuable insight for the committee as it undertakes its review. I was appointed in 1977 to the EEOC as the first woman Chair, and enforced federal job discrimination laws, such as Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which bars job discrimination. As Chair, I issued the first guidelines holding sexual harassment to be a violation of equal employment laws, and the Supreme Court upheld our guidelines.

More recently, I led a letter with our House colleagues, Representative Jackie Speier and Representative Brenda Lawrence, asking Members to take action on their own to require sexual harassment training in our offices while our bills that mandate training are pending. I have taken these actions myself and see no reason why Members should not immediately act on their own to protect their staff from workplace harassment.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Eleanor Holmes Norton

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