Transcripts For CSPAN VA Officials Testify On Sexual Harassm

V. A. Officials appeared before a House Veterans Affairs subcommittee to explain what is being done to address the issue. This hearing is about an hour and a sexualharassment affects the rights and wellbeings of employees. An estimated 17 of the v. A. s four hundred thousand employees experienced Sexual Harassment in the preceding two years. This exceeds a governmentwide average of 11 and may be the highest rate of sexualharassment across federal workforce. These figures show an unacceptable situation. And the severity and pervasiveness of sexualharassment within v. A. Is not new. I wish i could say the department has done all it can, but despite very high levels of sexualharassment reported in anonymous surveys, 17 to 400,000 employees. They are afraid they will be blamed or socially ostracized. That means employers are not getting the help they need and injustices are not being corrected. Over the last two years, v. A. Has made progress. One of secretary mcdonaghs first acts was to make clear that he would not accept discrimination, harassment or assault at any level within v. A. This is an important statement. In march, the department issued a set of harassment prevention procedures. I was glad to cva supervisors are now required to centrally report all complaints second show of sexualharassment to the office of diversity and inclusion. There is also new mandatory training. However, the v. A. Has not taken other necessary steps. More than two years ago, the gao testified many employees do not report sexualharassment out of fear of retaliation or reprisal. More than half of v. A. Employees were reportedly not confident that complaints would be resolved in a fair manner. The gao made 17 recommendations addressing shortfalls in seizures going back years. I have to express my frustration two years later, the v. A. Has only implemented two of the 17 recommendations. Lets talk about priority recommendations, the longstanding eeo Commission Directive requires that the same Agency Official responsible for executing and advising on personnel actions they not also be responsible for managing or overseeing the eeo complaint process. This is for good reason. The same person shouldnt be in charge of both pursuing a Sexual Harassment complaint and defending managers. This is a conflict of interest. The eoc put it this way in a letter. They said we are concerned that a perceived conflict of interests could have a Chilling Effect on employees confidence in the complaint process. Yet the equal opportunity director who is in charge of harassment complaints oversees both the eeo and personnel functions for the department. The v. A. Refused to correct this latent conflict that undercuts Employee Confidence in how harassment cases are addressed. Equally troubling is the fact that people tasked with receiving Sexual Harassment complaints are not trained professionals. This is about more than misplaced boxes on the v. A. Organizational chart, conflict erodes employee faith. V. A. Officials told us two years ago they were working to realign eeo Program Managers and gave us a timeline but even that sluggish timeline appears to be slipping. That is why i invited the deputy secretary to participate in his hearing. He declined because of conflicts. The v. A. Witnesses here today have done an admirable job updating policies, but we need the Decisionmaking Authority to make major structural changes and that falls on the deputy secretary and upper leadership at v. A. I am concerned about his absence today and decisionmaking that we need because that can send a wrong message in the absence of action to thousands of v. A. Employees who experienced Sexual Harassment. So, i hope today is witnesses are empowered to share actionable steps that are being taken now, not three years from now. Current v. A. Leadership has an opportunity to take action now that would position the department to address harassment moving forward. Thank you to our witnesses. We look forward to your testimony. I will turn things over to the Ranking Member. Thank you. Nearly two years ago, this subcommittee held a hearing with almost the same title. While improvements have been made, harassment still exists for still exists. Mandatory training, while important, will not end actual harassment. We need to treat one another with respect. And when sexualharassment does happen, v. A. Management must be committed to holding employees accountable. Only through accountability can we end sexualharassment at va. Two years ago, the Accountability Office made seven recommendations, and the v. A. Has closed on only two of them. I am very disappointed. The department did not concur with two of the gao recommendations regarding alignment of the eeo director and Program Managers in medical centers. The gao is concerned the alignment creates a conflict of interests. The v. A. Disagrees. The debate has been ongoing with little progress, but the debate was always unnecessary and i am glad the house is taking action. Earlier in this congress, we passed legislation out of the house that would codify the gao recommendations over objections of the department. The legislation is stuck in the senate. I hope house and Senate Majorities can pass legislation so we do not continue to spin, wheels and have the same debate regarding alignment of eeo directors. I am appreciative of the efforts of v. A. Employees to end Sexual Harassment. This can be overwhelming and it can feel like everyone is a critic, but more can and should be done. Wild the issue of staff alignment is important, Congress Already ruled on that matter. Now, we must turn to the leadership and cultural failures at v. A. The v. A. Inspector general has called the v. A. Leadership disengaged at the culture, dangerous. I intend to make that the focus of my questions and i yield back. Thank you. I will yield to chairman tacano. Thank you. I would like to associate myself with the statement you made to begin. The lack of addressing sexualharassment at vi is disappointing. What i see as a lack of engagement but v. A. Leadership is disheartening. I remember the hearing that addressed these issues. I told the witnesses at that time that i was impatient with the v. A. s slow pace of reform on sexualharassment. My comments were mild compared to what several republican members had to say. Sexualharassment among the v. A. Workforce is a bipartisan concern and has been a concern of this committee for many years. No one should be suggested suggested unwelcome sexual advances or teasing, joking or derogatory comments based on sex, Sexual Orientation or gender identity. Unfortunately, these are issues that many v. A. Employees have had to do with, and continue to deal with today. Let me highlight passages from a government Accountability Office report. Alleged incidents of Sexual Harassment are underreported under v. A. s current system. Without areas that warranted attention including evidence of lack of trust in management, fear of reprisal or concerns about eeo complaint processing. And another quote, communications intended for all employees did not always reach them. Finally, gao identified concerns about whether the investigation and resolution of eeo complaints was sufficiently independent of management of the v. A. Medical centers. I am sorry to say this is not a recent gao report i am reading from. This report was issued in 1993, nearly 30 years ago. And yet the department is still rapidly with some of the same sexualharassment issues. Two years ago, we were told every alignment of equal Employment Opportunity Program Managers which had been underway at the Veterans Benefits administration and National Cemetery Administration Since 2016 would not even begin at the Veterans Health administration until 2024. And we know that vha is the biggest section of what we do at v. A. Even with that ambitious even with that unambitious goal, that has been further delayed. The two v. A. Witnesses here this morning should be commended for the steps they have taken to ovking of Sexual Harassment complaints, update raining and revise handbooks, but policies and procedures are only as good as people who implement them and what we have heard from too many v. A. Employees is that there is dale a lack of trust in the departments antiharassment reporting structure. I know there is renewed focus on harassment and whistleblower protection under this administration. But there is more that needs to be done. I share concerns that the deputy secretary is not here to speak to these issues. He or someone at or near his level should be able to convey to this committee that gaos outstanding recommendations on sexualharassment have the full attention of the department that will be swiftly implemented. It was communicated to us that the department does not want to set a president for a deputy secretarys appearance at subcommittee hearings. I find this odd since the committee has a long history of having Senior Leadership appeared before subcommittees. The deputy secretary of. Before our Technology Subcommittee in november and then, acting deputy secretary pamela powers testified before the oversight and Investigations Committee in 2020 on sexualharassment issues at v. A. This deserves the attention of Senior Leadership, and the deputy secretary is the appropriate v. A. Official to make necessary changes that gao and the equal Employment Opportunity commission have been recommending for years. Current v. A. Leadership has a critical opportunity to give employees renewed faith that they are harassment complaints will be handled in a fair manner. Time for talk is past due. We need to see some action. Thank you, again, mr. Chairman, and our guests. Thank you. We are joined by the chairwoman of the newly authorized womens veteran task force. Thank you, chairman pappas, Ranking Member and the rest of the subcommittee for holding todays very important tearing and including the womens veteran task force and its voice. First, i want to acknowledge the progress v. A. Has made over the best two years of sexual prevention. That Deborah Sampson act required v. A. To establish a comprehensive antiharassment and antiassault policy. I look forward to hearing from our witness on her neck witnesses on enactment of this policy. However, i am disappointed to be sitting here again as i was a 2020 because the v. A. Equal Opportunity Program is still not compliant with federal laws and regulations. Many findings of the gao are unresolved. This continues to harm the ability of v. A. To bring justice and support to employees who experience Sexual Harassment. At the 2020 hearing, i voiced concern that the v. A. Timeline to implement gao priority recommendations are taking way too long. Two years later, we are here once again. And today, i hope we will not be hearing the same premises and excuses same promises and excuses. The deputy secretary declined to be here today. I expect the deputy secretary to lead from the front, take responsibility and voice commitments to immediately resolve this issue for v. A. Employees. As far as i see, there is no sense of urgency. That is a problem. The 2020 gao report stated, absent additional action, some v. A. Employees may continue to distrust v. A. Handling of Sexual Harassment allegations. Additional reports take back decades on this subject which exposed many of the same problems, and distrust. The equal Employment Opportunity Commission Found that both the departmentwide eeo director in the eeo Program Managers at the v. A. Are misaligned, creating the perception there is a conflict of interest among v. A. Workforce. Further, v. A. Policies are not consistent throughout the agency and are missing crucial information such as including all options employees have for reporting Sexual Harassment, not to mention Data Collected from Sexual Harassment complaint and reports are incomplete. V. A. Must create a culture where employees are not stifled against reporting workplace harassment. Sexualharassment is underreported. Department leaders must work with the equal Employment Opportunity commission to implement compliance policies and procedures in order to ensure a safe, healthy and supportive Work Environment for all our employees. For decades, v. A. Employees have not trusted their leaders to handle the severe and evasive issue. There continues to be deficiency in both the application include documentation of corrective action. Survivors will continue to suffer without assurance that perpetrators of Sexual Harassment will be held accountable for their actions. Surveys by the merit Systems Protection Board in 2016 and 2020 one found v. A. Employees experienced more sexualharassment than any other federal agency. This is unacceptable and it is time to fix it. Advertising a policy for zero tolerance of Sexual Harassment or assault Means Nothing if it is not fully implemented. Employees rightfully expect and deserve better. I look forward to hearing from the witnesses on improvements at v. A. And what is being done to address changes still needed. Thank you. I yelled back. We are also joined virtually by mr. Thomas costa of the gao Education Workforce worry overseas Worker Protection and training issues. In addition to the assembled issues, i asked for unanimous consent to enter into the record a i received from the equal Employment Opportunity commission which identifies deficiencies in the program and states the v. A. Organizational structure does not lie with federal law. Just a reminder to mr. Costa who is virtual, please pause before speaking so we fully capture your comments. I want to start by recognizing mr. Johnson for five minutes. Good morning, chairman, Ranking Member and members of the subcommittee. Thank you for inviting us today to discuss v. A. Efforts to prevent and respond to Sexual Harassment and Sexual Assault. Joining me today is perdita johnson abercrombie, our director of the Eastern Region of the office of management, diversity and inclusion. We appreciate this opportunity to convey the commitment v. A. Secretary Dennis Mcdonagh has to achieving an inclusive environment to every veteran and our worldclass workforce. V. A. Thank you for your partnership and commitment to our veterans. We thank you for the Deborah Sampson act. This legislation served as the catalyst for v. A. To increase efforts to prevent and respond to Sexual Harassment and assault. We are pleased to discuss our tremendous progress since passage of the act and how v. A. Is going above and beyond implement this law. Secretary mcdonough issued a zerotolerance policy for Sexual Assault and harassment. This means we expect and work to manage an Organization Free of such incidents. We believe that just reacting to Sexual Harassment and assault is not enough and that we must achieve and sustain the Cultural Health of v. A. To prevent sexualharassment and assault. Today, you will hear us describe our efforts to do just that. V. A. Now has a clearlydefined process for reporting genderbased harassment and Sexual Assault for all employees, contractors, veterans and visitors. We now have a harassment prevention directive and handbook. The handbook provides instructions and procedures for v. A. Organizations and stakeholders at every level of the organization. V. A. Now has the outpatient Safety Survey that is disseminated to veterans. Survey inquiries about veteran feelings of safety and attending appointments. We also established a Remediation Program for facilities that have five or more substantiated complaints of Sexual Harassment and or resulted v. A. Has updated all harassment prevention training that not training that now includes Bystander Intervention training for employees. Secretary mcdonagh established the secretarys work that includes veteran service organizations, advocates, state directors of veterans affairs, t