Kamala Harris’s Justice Department paid over $1 million in harassment and retaliation claims
March 2, 2019
California Sen. Kamala Harris’s 2020 presidential campaign promises to be mired in controversy after it was reported Friday that the California Department of Justice endured serious sexual harassment charges while Harris served as state attorney general.
With Harris at the helm, the California Justice Department paid over $1 million to employees alleging they faced sexual harassment or workplace retaliation in a hostile work environment, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday. Progressives now have to ask themselves if this is the type of candidate who should represent the Democratic Party in the #MeToo era.
Toxic workplace environment
The settlements involved incidents that occurred between 2011 and 2017 and included allegations of inappropriate touching and lewd sexual comments. They were only disclosed this week after the LA Times filed a Public Records Act request demanding access to the case files.
When confronted with the allegations, Harris said she was unaware of what was happening in her administration. Chris Harris, the senator’s spokesman, said that subordinates who were expected to follow strict sexual harassment guidelines handled the lawsuits.
Despite her alleged ignorance, Harris took responsibility for the treatment her employees endured. “As the chief executive of a department of nearly 5,000 employees, the buck stopped with me,” the senator said in a statement. “No one should face harassment or intimidation in the workplace, and victims of sexual misconduct should be listened to, believed and protected.”
Harris has been an outspoken advocate for the #MeToo movement. When elected to the Senate in 2016, she pledged that any accusation of sexual harassment in her office would be forwarded directly to her.
“No office is immune to misconduct, and there is much more work to do to ensure all are protected,” Harris told the LA Times.
Mike Genest, the finance director under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, confirmed Harris’s claim that lower level management typically handles harassment claims, except in cases where top administrators are involved. “If a director wasn’t told about it, I would not be suspicious that that was an issue,” said Genest, who spent close to a quarter century working for state government agencies.
That may be true, but why wasn’t the attorney general notified when those same mid-level managers were accused of workplace retaliation in response to sexual harassment charges? It is difficult to imagine a scenario where a toxic workplace environment could develop under Harris’s nose without her taking notice and becoming involved.
Passing the buck
Harris has defended her record as state attorney general in the past when she came under scrutiny for the manner in which she handled several cases. When Democrats criticized the way she backed a California Department of Corrections decision to deny gender reassignment surgery to prisoners, Harris passed the buck to other people in her office who “do the work on a daily basis.”
“Time after time, when progressives urged her to embrace criminal justice reforms as a district attorney and then the state’s attorney general, Ms. Harris opposed them or stayed silent,” wrote Lara Bazelon in a New York Times op-ed.
Harris has also expressed regret over the way she handled cases involving sex crimes. “I can tell you of cases where I really regret that we were not able to charge somebody that I knew molested a child but the evidence wasn’t there,” she said.
However, the California senator stopped short of taking complete responsibility for failing to prosecute serious sex crimes offenders, blaming “fundamental flaws in the criminal justice system.”
https://www.conservativeinstitute.org/conserv...ia-doj.htm
March 2, 2019
California Sen. Kamala Harris’s 2020 presidential campaign promises to be mired in controversy after it was reported Friday that the California Department of Justice endured serious sexual harassment charges while Harris served as state attorney general.
With Harris at the helm, the California Justice Department paid over $1 million to employees alleging they faced sexual harassment or workplace retaliation in a hostile work environment, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday. Progressives now have to ask themselves if this is the type of candidate who should represent the Democratic Party in the #MeToo era.
Toxic workplace environment
The settlements involved incidents that occurred between 2011 and 2017 and included allegations of inappropriate touching and lewd sexual comments. They were only disclosed this week after the LA Times filed a Public Records Act request demanding access to the case files.
When confronted with the allegations, Harris said she was unaware of what was happening in her administration. Chris Harris, the senator’s spokesman, said that subordinates who were expected to follow strict sexual harassment guidelines handled the lawsuits.
Despite her alleged ignorance, Harris took responsibility for the treatment her employees endured. “As the chief executive of a department of nearly 5,000 employees, the buck stopped with me,” the senator said in a statement. “No one should face harassment or intimidation in the workplace, and victims of sexual misconduct should be listened to, believed and protected.”
Harris has been an outspoken advocate for the #MeToo movement. When elected to the Senate in 2016, she pledged that any accusation of sexual harassment in her office would be forwarded directly to her.
“No office is immune to misconduct, and there is much more work to do to ensure all are protected,” Harris told the LA Times.
Mike Genest, the finance director under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, confirmed Harris’s claim that lower level management typically handles harassment claims, except in cases where top administrators are involved. “If a director wasn’t told about it, I would not be suspicious that that was an issue,” said Genest, who spent close to a quarter century working for state government agencies.
That may be true, but why wasn’t the attorney general notified when those same mid-level managers were accused of workplace retaliation in response to sexual harassment charges? It is difficult to imagine a scenario where a toxic workplace environment could develop under Harris’s nose without her taking notice and becoming involved.
Passing the buck
Harris has defended her record as state attorney general in the past when she came under scrutiny for the manner in which she handled several cases. When Democrats criticized the way she backed a California Department of Corrections decision to deny gender reassignment surgery to prisoners, Harris passed the buck to other people in her office who “do the work on a daily basis.”
“Time after time, when progressives urged her to embrace criminal justice reforms as a district attorney and then the state’s attorney general, Ms. Harris opposed them or stayed silent,” wrote Lara Bazelon in a New York Times op-ed.
Harris has also expressed regret over the way she handled cases involving sex crimes. “I can tell you of cases where I really regret that we were not able to charge somebody that I knew molested a child but the evidence wasn’t there,” she said.
However, the California senator stopped short of taking complete responsibility for failing to prosecute serious sex crimes offenders, blaming “fundamental flaws in the criminal justice system.”
https://www.conservativeinstitute.org/conserv...ia-doj.htm
