Biden’s Labor chief calls FDIC revelations ‘clearly horrific’

Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su said in a hearing Thursday that the revelations arising from the major banking regulator’s investigation into sexual harassment and discrimination allegations are “obviously horrifying.”

During a tense interrogation by U.S. Sen. John Kennedy (R-Louisiana), Suh was questioned about the investigation into the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which has a standard of “providing a safe workplace from sexual harassment and discrimination.” It turned out that they were not able to provide that. Interpersonal misconduct. ”

During a hearing on the Biden administration’s fiscal year 2025 budget request for the Department of Labor, President Kennedy asked Hsu if she intended to use her “legal authority” to launch an FDIC investigation amid the ongoing scandal. .

“I’m always deeply concerned that working people go to work and don’t get the dignity and respect they deserve,” Hsu said, adding, “Based on the authority Congress gave the U.S. Department of State… “They are responsible for enforcing specific laws.” Labor. “

“Thank you for raising issues involving workers who have clearly experienced severe sexual harassment and other types of abuse,” she said. “And what this shows is that too often workers feel they have to put up with it.” [what] No one should have to put up with power imbalances in the workplace. ”

President Kennedy then said he would “do something about this”, including calling on FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg to resign, while insisting that Su had “the legal and moral authority to investigate the Labor Party”. I asked if there was one.

“I’m honestly surprised. I thought you’d jump on this like a ninja,” he said, to which Sue replied, “What?”

Kennedy said he had “heard that expression in the movies” before accusing Suh of being “incomprehensible” during questioning.

“Are you going to ask Martin Gruenberg and the senior leadership there, who run the FDIC and have been there since God was a corporal, to resign, or not?” he said. .

Su didn’t answer the question specifically, but defended the government’s budget request for the Labor Department.

In an earlier exchange during the hearing, senators also pressed Su about how he planned to respond to the findings. In response, Mr. Su pointed out that “sexual harassment is as follows.” [Kennedy is] We’re talking about being under the jurisdiction of another federal agency. ”

Mr. Gruenberg has been confirmed by the Senate, so the back-and-forth debate continues. in 2022is facing new pressure to resign in light of recent investigations into workplace culture at the FDIC.

A study conducted by Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton found that “a patriarchal, insular, and risk-averse culture contributes to the conditions that enable misconduct to occur and persist in this workplace.” “Fear of retribution is widespread.” A lack of clarity and credibility around whistleblowing channels has long led to the under-reporting of workplace misconduct. ”

“While we do not believe Chairman Gruenberg’s conduct is the root cause of sexual harassment or discrimination at the agency or the long-standing workplace culture problems identified in our investigation, we believe that many FDIC employees As we said in our talk, we recognize that. For Chairman Gruenberg, culture “starts at the top.”