Watchdog: DOJ has ‘systemic’ problem with handling of sexual harassment complaints

A watchdog has found a “systemic” issue in how the Justice Department handles sexual harassment complaints, according to a new report.

The Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General says employees who are found to have acted inappropriately often don’t face proper reprimands, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

Some perpetrators have received limited punishment and sometimes have been rewarded with bonuses or performance rewards later in their careers, the inspector general found.

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The watchdog says that sexual misconduct complaints have risen over the past five years and the issue needs “high level action.” The Post reported that some complaints have involved top officials.

“We’re talking about presidential appointees, political appointees, FBI special agents in charge, U.S. attorneys, wardens, a chief deputy U.S. marshal, a U.S. marshal assistant director, a deputy assistant attorney general,” Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz told the newspaper.

Horowitz told the Post the he had found some of the most troubling cases of alleged misconduct in the department’s Civil Division.

In one instance, a top lawyer in the division reportedly groped the breasts and buttocks of two female trial attorneys and also made sexual comments to them at an office. He had previously been disciplined and demoted for sending sexually oriented emails to colleagues.

But the lawyer wasn’t suspended, nor did he face a drop in pay or grade, according to the Post. The inspector general’s report found that the case “presented potential criminal assault violations, yet we found no evidence in the case file that a referral was made to the [Inspector General] or any other law enforcement entity.”

In another case, a different lawyer in the divisions had also stalked a female staffer by hacking into her personal email and “catfishing” her, or creating a fake online profile to talk to her.

That attorney was transferred to another section of the division and was banned from entering the building where the woman he had stalked worked. But outside of a written reprimand and a drop in title, he wasn’t suspended and didn’t see a reduction in his pay or grade.

He was recently given a performance award for his work in the division.

Neither of the lawyers returned a request for comment from the Post.

Justice Department spokesman Ian Prior said that the department “does not discuss specific employee disciplinary actions or comment on personnel actions or matters that may impact personal privacy.”

“That said, the Department was very disappointed with the issues that occurred in the Obama administration and strives for a workplace free of harassment and other misconduct for all of our 115,000 employees,” Prior continued. 

“That is why the Civil Division has implemented additional safeguards and systems to ensure that all misconduct allegations are handled appropriately going forward.”

Horowitz had warned Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein of pervasive sexual harassment in the department in a May memo.

Rosenstein has since created a working group to come up with possible solutions and send them to Horowitz, Prior told the Post.

The revelations come amid a continued focus on allegations of sexual misconduct in Washington and in various industries across the country.

Several lawmakers have recently resigned or announced their retirement after facing allegations of sexual misconduct.

Updated: 8:28 p.m.