Effort to improve policy on sexual harassment in limbo in the Senate

Almost two years after the Legislature began reviewing its sexual harassment policies in the wake of the #MeToo movement and forced resignation of House Speaker Joe Souki amid complaints by several women that he had made unwanted sexual advances toward them, the Senate still hasn’t adopted a new policy.

Sen. Laura Thielen (D, Hawaii Kai-Waimanalo- Kailua), who has been pushing for improvements to the policy, said she’s particularly concerned because the Senate’s current policy doesn’t cover cases in which lobbyists or other third parties who do work before the Senate are sexually harassed — as she had previously believed.

“The reason why that is important for the Legislature is that we are not the typical workplace,” said Thielen. “There are a number of entities that have no choice but to come to the Legislature when it is dealing with budgets or laws.”

Cabinet members, managers of state programs and nonprofits and government relations personnel often come to the Legislature to advocate for state funding and laws.

“When those people are subject to harassment, particularly by a legislator, it affects their employment,” said Thielen. “They may have to leave their job and that’s really a devastating penalty.”

Thielen said attorneys working with the Senate had advised her about a year ago that the current policy doesn’t cover third parties. In January, she sent a memo to Senate President Ron Kouchi urging him to update the policy, but said she never received a response.

Kouchi did not respond to interview requests for this story. But his office said Kouchi believes a new draft will clarify that third parties are covered. He plans to put the plan before the Senate for adoption this upcoming legislative session, which begins in January, his office said.

Thielen, in response, said she wanted more assurance.

“If that is the plan, then I think I would object to it and ask that we have a meeting with our private attorney and verify that this clearly protects lobbyists and third parties,” said Thielen.

Policy holes

The need to extend harassment policies to third parties came to the forefront when Souki, who had been a powerful figure in Hawaii politics for decades, resigned from the House in March 2018 following complaints by several women, including former Director of Human Services Rachael Wong, that he had made unwanted advances toward them, including sexual comments, touching and kissing.

Wong, at the time, said that she did not immediately report the harassment because she was concerned that she and her department might face retaliation from the speaker. As DHS director, Wong oversaw more than 2,000 employees and a budget of more than $3 billion. Wong said that Souki’s behavior made it difficult for her to do her job, which involved collaboration with lawmakers.

Wong eventually filed a complaint with the State Ethics Commission, which looked into her allegations as well as those of other women.

The ethics commission’s report concluded that because of the House speaker’s power over legislation and budgeting women were reticent to confront Souki or file a complaint with the House.

At the beginning of this year, the House of Representatives updated its sexual harassment policy to make clear that people not employed by the House are also covered. If a member of the public, lobbyist or government official feels they have been sexually harassed by a representative or House employee, they can report it to any supervisor, the House speaker or the chief clerk of the House.

The new House policy lays out specific procedures for investigating sexual harassment complaints, prohibits retaliation for reporting incidents and states that, if a case is substantiated, the perpetrator, depending on the nature of the offense, could face various disciplinary actions, ranging from a warning to being fired.

Confusion over policy

The Senate’s sexual harassment policy, however, can be confusing. It states that “harassment can occur between Senate members and staff members, as well as between supervisors or subordinates of the Senate, or vendors or lobbyists.”

Thielen said she was therefore surprised when an attorney conducting sexual harassment training for the Senate told her that the policy didn’t actually protect vendors or lobbyists. Rather, it only appears to protect employees of the Senate from harassment from those third parties.

Thielen said she had previously thought the Senate’s policy was a good one. Indeed, it was used as an example by the National Conference of State Legislatures as a strong policy.

But she said greater awareness about sexual harassment has pushed workplaces to adopt better policies and that the Senate’s policy could be improved.

In addition to ensuring third parties are covered, she said victims of harassment should be provided more avenues for reporting incidents and that the Senate policy should be posted in places where the public can easily find it.

Currently, the two-page policy can be found on page 54 of a 123-page document on the Senate’s website under the title Administrative and Financial Manual.