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Taxpayers Pay Settlements For Capital Hill Worker Disputes

September 30, 2011 by  

Taxpayers Pay Settlements For Capital Hill Worker Disputes

On Thursday, the Office of Compliance (OOC) released a report that shows the number of discrimination and harassment claims on Capitol Hill have doubled in the past five years. Taxpayers have footed the bill for hundreds of thousands of dollars in settlements.

The State of the Congressional Workplace report indicated 168 claims were filed in fiscal 2010,compared to 87 in 2006. Fifty-seven of the claims made last year were based on race, while 41 claims involved age, 34 involved gender and 28 involved disabilities, the report read.

“The OOC has felt the impact of a substantial increase in discrimination, harassment, and retaliation cases over the past 5 fiscal years. The OOC dispute resolution program in fiscal year 2010 saw an increase in formal requests for confidential counseling and mediations, compared to five fiscal years ago. Also in comparison, there was an increase in discrimination, harassment, and retaliation claims. These cases are becoming more complex and sophisticated, often with multiple allegations of discrimination, discovery disputes, and issues relating to the OOC’s rules and procedures,” said a statement from OOC Executive Director Tamara Chrisler.

Since 1997, taxpayers have footed the bill for more than $13.2 million in cases resolved by the OOC. The highest number of claims filed involved terms and conditions violations, hostile work environments, harassment and discipline issues.

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Conservative Politics, Government, Liberty News, Staff Reports
Sam Rolley

Staff writer Sam Rolley began a career in journalism working for a small town newspaper while seeking a B.A. in English. After learning about many of the biases present in most modern newsrooms, Rolley became determined to find a position in journalism that would allow him to combat the unsavory image that the news industry has gained. He is dedicated to seeking the truth and exposing the lies disseminated by the mainstream media at the behest of their corporate masters, special interest groups and information gatekeepers.

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  • Old Henry

    Office of Compliance….

    How very Stalin-esque.

    Whazzup Comrad?

    • s c

      Old Henry, aside from the fact that most Americans have never heard of the Office of Compliance, America is experiencing a sickening revival of FDR’s approach to Big Government. That is, create as many agencies as possible, staff them with lunatics and freedom-haters and wait until there’s enough public outrage before you feel forced to eliminate the worst ones (and keep the rest so future politicians will be able to create more problems and have instant job security when they get elected). A government that can’t function properly with 20 agencies or less is a government that runs on Ponzi schemes, open graft and a complete disregard of the Constitution.

  • Joyce from Loris

    I will always remember the case of the woman suing McDonalds over the hot coffee issue. I could not believe a person would have the nerve to sue a company after she was stupid enough to place a cup of steaming hot coffee between her legs, and then be surprised that it spilled and “hurt” her. But that was nothing compared to the shock that a JURY, people from the street, AMERICANS, granted her millions in her case. AMERICANS did this! That made me look at the people of this nation in a whole new way. I would NEVER have given her a dime.

    • Old Henry

      And if I had been on the jury and it was possible I would have made her pay the Defense costs.

      • Joyce from Loris

        Yeah, that’s a great idea.

    • afdbghq

      This particular case is one of the main reasons there are so many of these types of law suits. When this woman won it opened Pandora’s Box. The lawyers love these type of cases. An award of $1,000,000 typically means the lawyer gets about 60% before taxes and the plaintiff gets about 40%. A good way to handle this type of suite is that the plaintiff has to pay 40% of the amount requested in damages and the lawyer has to pay 60% if and when they loose the case.

  • Buck

    This is another very good reason to eliminate at least two thirds of the government jobs in Washington in particular and in the entire country in general .

  • Joani

    I’m afraid I have to agree with Real Bob. It is so much more true than not. Sadly by this day and age, if things were done without so much condisention, the noble right thing to do, became dependence and
    entitlement. Not to mention a great vote insurer.

  • Chuck

    Seems to me like we cap the lawyers at 5,000 max per case that they can earn. In order to maintain the life style they have to spend less time on a case and push more through.

    Someone wants to bring a ‘frivolous’ lawsuit and wants to get 1,000,000 bucks, he fronts the lawyer say 20 percent to compensate him since his cap it 5,000 you watch how fast those type cases dry up.

    Just sayin’

    • Joyce from Loris

      If you will look at the resume’s of our Congress and Senate, you will see that majority of them are LAWYERS. They make the laws that the rest of us are forced to live under, and they always seem to make laws that will financially benefit LAWYERS. We are a sue happy nation, and it’s all because of the LAWYERS.

    • Old Henry

      Chuck:

      Capping the lawyer’s fees may sound good on the surface, but remember that is counter to the free market. Also, remember that if they can cap lawyers fees they can then cap what you earn.

      That is a can of worms we do not want to open.

      The best solution is to go after the frivolous lawsuits and to work at reversing the sue-happy attitude of Americans.

  • Song

    We are a lawsuit happy country and in the end it is the consumer/taxpayer that gets stuck with the bill. When there is a suit against a corporation or government entity we all pay! Isn’t it about time that people that bring forward “frivolous lawsuits” are penalized?

  • home boy

    this isn’t the only thing your tax dollars are paying for. when a railroad is abandoned in this country , a class action suit is formed against the government. why? because when the railroad started back in the day , the government just took the property . in 1995 a new hampshire man sued for the property adjoin to his and won . since then the government has paid millions every time a rail system is abandoned . i know this because i am involved in one of these suit’s presently . thanks for you money.

    • Old Henry

      Well homeboy, I would rather it go to you than some foreign country or a parsite on Welfare.

      Keep us posted on the success of your action.

  • eddie47d

    Maybe we should practice what we preach according to the Constitution and stop discriminating. Which obviously leads to these lawsuits. I was surprised there wasn’t a higher percentage which may mean they are weeding out the phoney cases. I’ve heard several persons claim age discrimination as employers try and send older workers out the door. A bad economy will do that but the big problem is not getting laid off but not getting rehired by anyone.

  • TheRealBob

    Anyone who works with the feds knows this is ridiculous. The feds are so politically correct, so infested with affirmative action drones, so anti-white male, so pro-female and minority, that it would be almost impossible to find a real example of harrassment or discrimination (unless it is against a white male). These settlements are nothing more than a payoff to parasites who have found a way to milk the taxpayers. It is time to charge these parasites with fraud, fire them, and send them to prison.

    • Old Henry

      TRB:

      DC is (or has been) also infested with reprobates such as Teddy Kennedy, Chris Dodd and their ilk.

      Remember the “Waitress Sandwich” that the scum Kennedy and Dod made in the Congressional cafeteria?

      Thee is no one more harrassing that libs / commies.

  • s c

    Sam, we need a lot more info. Some people never think twice about who really “works” in Washington [Capitol Hill]. Odds are that people who act as aides and ‘staff’ have parallel careers with the elected retards who infest Washington.
    They, too, need to be de-loused or flushed and made scarce. There is no justification for taxpayers getting stuck with paying for such settlements. No wonder those vermin in Washington think we work for them. Let THEM pay for the crap that goes on back there. If they can’t afford it, that’s tough horse hockey.

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