Lawmakers tasked with ensuring workplace safety on Capitol Hill say there’s an explanation for why the number of publicly reported settlements is so low: The reforms to the complaint-reporting process passed in the #MeToo era are working.
But there’s also a strange reporting quirk that is leaving a portion of workplace rights settlements entirely out of public view, and one former congressional staffer who spoke to NOTUS described the workplace dispute resolution process as “a complete shit show.”
A law passed in 2018 was intended to create more transparency around which congressional offices are involved in settlements over misconduct complaints and how much Congress (and taxpayer money) pays out for those agreements. The publicly reported number of settlements has dropped significantly since 2019, when the reforms took effect, something lawmakers take heart in.