Web site
https://www.compliance.gov/about-ooc/our-pledge
OUR PLEDGE
We appreciate that workplace rights issues can be stressful to deal with, difficult to manage, and challenging to understand. So when someone calls to speak to our counselors about a sensitive workplace issue, we are committed to providing prompt, courteous, and responsive information to help them better understand their rights and responsibilities. All counseling calls with the OOC are strictly confidential.
When we inspect properties to determine compliance with safety and health and disability access, we are committed to working with employing offices to help them understand the law and to provide the information necessary to cure any potential violations.
Finally, we strongly believe that understanding the laws incorporated in the Congressional Accountability Act is the best way to prevent workplace conflict, and as such, we are committed to being a vital, educational resource for Congressional Members, employing offices, and legislative branch employees through our publications and training programs.
The Office of Compliance is part of the legislative branch and is therefore not subject to the Freedom of Information Act.
OOC’s Organizational Structure
The OOC has a five-member, non-partisan Board of Directors and four executive staff, appointed by the Board, who carry out the day-to-day functions of the Agency. The Office also employs an experienced professional staff on Capitol Hill who educate, communicate, inspect, litigate, and otherwise run its operations.
About the Office of Comliance
The Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 (CAA) protects over 30,000 employees of the legislative branch nationwide and establishes the Office of Compliance (OOC) to administer and ensure the integrity of the Act through its programs of dispute resolution, education, and enforcement. The OOC assists members of Congress, employing offices and employees, and visiting public in understanding their rights and responsibilities under the workplace and accessibility laws.
The OOC advises Congress on needed changes and amendments to the CAA; and the OOC’s General Counsel has independent investigatory and enforcement authority for certain violations of the CAA.
OOC’s Organizational Structure
The OOC has a five-member, non-partisan Board of Directors and four executive staff, appointed by the Board, who carry out the day-to-day functions of the Agency. The Office also employs an experienced professional staff on Capitol Hill who educate, communicate, inspect, litigate, and otherwise run its operations.
John Adams Building
110 2nd Street SE, Room LA 200
Washington, DC 20540-1999
Phone: 202-724-9250
Fax: 202-426-1913
Report: Taxpayers Forked Out $220,000 To Settle Sex Harassment Suit Against Florida Democrat Alcee Hastings;
It’s the second known instance of a lawmaker using taxpayer dollars to quiet misconduct allegations.
By Mary Papenfuss / HuffPost
Taxpayer funds to the tune of $220,000 were used to settle a lawsuit charging Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.) with sexual harassment, Roll Call has reported.
Hastings was accused of touching, making unwanted sexual advances and threatening the job of a female staffer on a congressional international human rights commission he chaired, according to documents obtained by Roll Call.
Hastings called the accusations against him “ludicrous” and told Roll Call that he had no knowledge of the 2014 settlement with staffer Winsome Packer, which he said was handled by the Senate Chief Counsel for Employment. Funds were paid out by the Treasury Department.
Hastings told Roll Call he was “outraged” that the money was “needlessly paid to Ms. Packer.”
It’s the second reported instance of taxpayer money being being used to settle a sexual harassment claim against a congressman. Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Texas) used $84,000 in taxpayer money to settle a sexual harassment claim brought by his former spokeswoman in 2014, The New York Times reported. The funds reportedly came from an Office of Compliance account.
House Administration Committee Chairman Gregg Harper (R-Miss.) told GOP lawmakers that there was only a single case of those particular funds being used to settle a sex harassment suit. The House Committee on Ethics voted Thursday to investigate Farenthold over the payout.
It’s not clear why Hastings’ settlement was not included in a record of such payouts over the last five years released in November by the Office of Compliance. The Farenthold payment was included. It’s possible that funds from another taxpayer source were used in the Hastings case.
Rep. Mia Love (R-Utah) has called for Farenthold to resign. “I don’t think he thinks he’s done anything wrong,” Love told CNN on Thursday. “But the fact is, someone was paid off. It’s taxpayer dollars that [were] used. This is about people taking responsibility for what they do and changing the culture in Washington.”
Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) also said in a statement that Farenthold should step aside and reimburse the taxpayer money. On Friday, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) also called for Farenthold’s resignation.
Reps. John Conyers (D-Mich.) and Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) have resigned in the wake of sexual harassment accusations. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) also announced he will be are resigning “in the coming weeks.”
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