Seven senators took the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s inspector general to task last week for not holding accountable the employees who normalized a work culture that tolerated sexual harassment.
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-IA, and five other lawmakers wrote a letter to FDIC IG Jennifer Fain, asserting that it was “unacceptable” that victims of 500-plus instances of sexual harassment are still awaiting justice more than a year after a bombshell Wall Street Journal report exposed flaws in the agency’s work culture. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-IA, wrote Fain separately to address the same issue.
The WSJ report led to an independent review by the law firm Cleary Gottlieb, released earlier this year, and the FDIC OIG has evaluated the FDIC’s Sexual Harassment Prevention Program.
But “evaluations and audits alone do not deliver justice,” Ernst wrote in a letter also signed by Sens. Rick Scott, R-FL; Steve Daines, R-MT; Marsha Blackburn, R-TN, Pete Ricketts, R-NE; and John Thune, R-SD.
“Inspectors general are responsible for shining a light on government abuse,” Grassley told the Iowa Capital Dispatch in a statement. “Of all federal divisions, OIGs ought to be the most forthcoming about potential employee misconduct, but that’s not currently the case. My oversight is aimed at strengthening trust with federal watchdogs to ensure justice for victims of sexual harassment. Even the watchdog needs to be watched.”
Last week, the FDIC board reached consensus on how to investigate allegations of misconduct by agency executives.
“This belated consensus follows five months of debate, delays, and false starts,” FDIC board member Jonathan McKernan wrote in a prepared statement following Tuesday’s meeting.
Under the approach board members agreed upon, the newly minted Office of Professional Conduct will retain and oversee law firms investigating allegations against executives. McKernan projected completed investigations next spring, and disciplinary action to follow.
“The problem, of course, is: that will be too little, too late. Thanks to months of debate, delays, and false starts at the Board level, accountability for wrongdoing will be delayed until a year after the Cleary report and likely after some of these executives have left the FDIC,” he wrote. “There can be no doubt that, despite my and Vice Chairman Hill’s persistent efforts, FDIC leadership has failed to deliver prompt accountability.”
Hill’s statement also reflected distaste for the unnecessary delay.
In Ernst’s letter to Fain, the senators took issue with the FDIC board’s focus on external investigations of solely senior leadership.
“[T]he majority of the FDIC Board has effectively abandoned an untold number of alleged victims whose allegations are against other employees within the agency. Every individual — regardless of their position within the agency — deserves justice, and it is your obligation as the Inspector General to ensure each allegation is fully investigated,” the senators wrote.
The FDIC did not respond to a request for comment.
