Group Implicated Was Tasked With Preventing Sexual Harassment
WASHINGTON, DC — An internal VA investigation has verified many, though not all, of the sexual harassment allegations made public by members of the House VA Committee in January.
The allegations involve senior members of the Office of Resolution, Management, Diversity, and Inclusion (ORMDI)—the office responsible for preventing sexual harassment in VA. At the hearing, the committee voted to serve VA with a subpoena for information on its internal investigation into the accusations.
VA confirmed that employees engaged in inappropriate relationships with subordinate employees, engaged in inappropriate conduct of a sexual nature, failed to initiate an investigation into sexual harassment allegations and failed to take prompt and appropriate action when notified of allegations that a chief of staff was harassing employees.
At a House VA Committee hearing last month, VA Secretary Denis McDonough took responsibility for VA’s failures.
“I’m responsible for everything at VA,” he told committee members.
Much of the questioning involved the timeframe around the investigation and who knew what and when. Whistleblowers approached the House committee in September, informing lawmakers of their experiences and that VA had yet to take any action. In late September, committee Chair Mike Bost (R-IL) sent a letter to McDonough, requesting information about VA’s investigation into the matter. Bost’s letter went unanswered.
According to McDonough, the letter was forwarded to VA’s Office of Human Resources and Administrations (HR&A) which compiled information to draft a response. Weeks after its arrival, the letter from Congress was placed in McDonough’s daily briefing book as background material. McDonough said he never saw it.
“Because of the large number of materials that I am provided every day—including numerous letters from Congress, federal partners, state officials, veteran service organizations, unions and the like—I often do not get the chance to review all of these background materials,” he told the committee.
The VA investigation also uncovered evidence that McDonough received emails from a whistleblower in mid-October reporting sexual harassment at ORMDI.
“Although the documentary record shows that I forwarded this employee’s email to legal counsel, I have no independent recollection of having done so,” he said.
It was not until Bost called him in November to ask why there had been no response to the September letter that McDonough learned about the allegations, he declared.
A sticking point for many lawmakers on the committee was the resignation of VA Assistant Secretary Gina Grosso in November. Grosso’s portfolio included ORMDI, and the original whistleblower allegations included accusations that she was shielding ORMDI leaders from sexual-harassment claims.
In late October, Grosso and McDonough exchanged emails, where Grosso apologized for not meeting “the appropriate standard” and thanked McDonough for allowing her a “gracious departure.”
“Emails over the next few days show that the secretary was working to provide a soft landing for Ms. Grosso,” Bost said. “He even offered ‘to be very disciplined in how I talk about his and how other senior leaders talk about your service at VA.’”
According to McDonough, the decision to ask Grosso to resign had nothing to do with the sexual-harassment allegations.
“During September, I had come to the decision that we needed a change in leadership … and had begun planning for Ms. Grosso’s departure,” he said. “At that time, I was unaware of any of the allegations involving ORMDI.”
The department is in the process of moving forward with disciplinary action and a large-scale reevaluation of its sexual-harassment training, according to Assistant Secretary Cassandra Law, who was appointed to replace Grosso in January.
“While I can’t go into much detail in a public session, I can announce that, just yesterday, VA served a notice of proposed removal on one employee. And I’ve been informed that there are additional disciplinary and [pay bonus] recoupment recommendations from OAWP’s report that VA will act on by the end of the month.”
“VA is in the process of creating an anti-fraternization policy addressing romantic or sexual relationships in the workplace,” she added. “I expect this policy will require the disclosure of any such relationship and prohibit any inappropriate supervisor/subordinate relationships.”
While many of the major allegations made public by the committee were substantiated, several weren’t, leaving some Democratic members feeling like the Republican leadership had played loose with the facts in service of creating a more salacious narrative.
Asked about the allegations that had not been substantiated, Acting Assistant Secretary Bruce Gripe said, “A lot of things we looked at that were based solely on rumor and innuendo. … The lack of appropriate addressing of harassment concerns led to a growth in a hostile and toxic work environment, which led to a dysfunctional office with rampant gossiping and innuendo, which led to even more harassment complaints.”
He added, “All I can say is that [in some cases] the evidence was not there for us to find. But the rumors and innuendos does not lead to a healthy culture and workforce.”
