Senate has spent more than $1.45M settling harassment, discrimination cases in last 20 years

The Senate spent more than $1.45 million settling workplace harassment and discrimination cases over the past 20 years, according to data released by the Senate Rules Committee on Thursday.

The Office of Compliance (OOC) paid nearly $600,000 in claims stemming from senators’ offices across a total of 13 settlements, according to the data.

They also paid more than an additional $853,000 as part of 10 settlements in response to claims from other Senate-employing offices, according to the data.

Senators have been under pressure to release the information on sexual and workplace harassment claims after the House Office of Compliance began disclosing information on settlements.

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Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) said they had received assurances from the Office of Senate Legal Counsel that the release of the data didn’t violate the confidentiality of those involved in the settlements. 

“While the Rules Committee has been eager to provide this information in a transparent manner, it has been our priority to protect the victims involved in these settlements from further harm,” he said. 

Kaine submitted his request on the day that Franken announced his resignation from the Senate after multiple women alleged that Franken had groped or forcibly kissed them in the past.

In a letter to Kaine earlier this week, the OOC noted that it traditionally hasn’t “separated allegations of sexual harassment from those involving sex­-based disparate treatment or pregnancy discrimination.”

“In fact, for many years, the office simply classified all claims alleging discrimination of any kind as civil rights cases without any further differentiation,” wrote Susan Tsui Grundmann, the executive director of the OOC. 

Kaine commended the move to release the data on Thursday night, calling it a “first step.”

“I appreciate that the Senate Rules Committee did the right thing today by heeding calls to release this data. This is the first step toward a more transparent reporting system for harassment in Congress to hold people accountable for their actions,” he said.

Updated at 8:34 p.m.