The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s (FDIC) 234-page workplace report outlines the next big headache President Joe Biden will face ahead of the 2024 election.
Law firm Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton was retained to investigate the FDIC following a 2023 Wall Street Journal report alleging widespread sexual harassment in the workplace. The May 7 report detailed how 500 people, nearly one in 10 employees across the FDIC, reported to the firm’s hotline that they had experienced “sexual harassment, discrimination or other interpersonal misconduct” in the workplace.
The report prompted Biden’s nominee to head the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Martin Gruenberg, to resign, but the scandal could continue to pose problems for a president struggling with low approval ratings, experts told The Daily Caller.
“Joe Biden had an opportunity to take bold action to show he cares about how women are treated in the workplace and about whistleblowers, but he cowardly hid behind his press secretary, who completely forgot about Biden’s pledge to fire anyone who behaves like this,” Republican strategist Mark R. Weaver told The Daily Caller.
When Biden took office, he pledged to fire colleagues who “treated them with disrespect.”
In January 2021, President Biden promised to fire on the spot anyone who “treated a colleague with disrespect.”
A new report details the FDIC chairman’s abusive behavior and finds the agency riddled with sexual harassment and discrimination, but Biden has refused to act. pic.twitter.com/b21iUXeF0k
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) May 9, 2024
“Senator John Kennedy recently questioned the FDIC chairman before his committee and criticized him so harshly that it was clear he was going to have to resign. And yet Joe Biden didn’t fire him. Instead, he resigned,” Weaver continued.
Despite Grunberg’s resignation, the issue of union protections for FDIC employees is likely to continue to dog Biden, who has portrayed himself as a champion of unions throughout his decades-long political career. The issue has been a major Democratic Party backstop. Honest opposition Former President Donald Trump’s proposal to dramatically cut the federal bureaucracy.
In its report, the company outlined how the FDIC responds to reports of harassment and discrimination and takes disciplinary action, noting that the agency first relies on warning employees.
However, disciplinary procedures are different for unionized employees. (Related article: Soaring sex scandal puts Biden and his biggest supporters at odds at a critical moment)
“For bargaining unit employees, counseling or warning letters cannot be used as evidence of progressive discipline and are typically removed from an employee’s file within one year of their date of issue, absent a legitimate administrative need,” the report states. Such union protocols appear to make it more difficult to discipline or fire employees facing harassment allegations, The Wall Street Journal editorial board noted. I have written.
Sexual harassment lawyer Lisa Bloom expressed dismay at how the union appears to be protecting potential bad actors within the FDIC.
“The bottom line is that anyone who engages in sexual harassment can and should be fired. Anyone who covers it up should also be fired. Employees need to feel safe that they will not be sexualized or exposed to pornography in the workplace,” Bloom told the Caller.
“When you have a problem this deep-rooted, you really need a massive cleanup. And again, I think it should start from the top and work its way down,” she continued, adding that she was shocked to see unions protecting potential bad actors.
The report said the incidents it cited “did not occur in a vacuum, and that conduct at the FDIC was the result of a work environment that was ‘misogynistic,’ ‘patriarchal,’ ‘closed’ and ‘outdated.'” Investigators cited examples of complaints filed by employees through written surveys.
“An employee reported that after happy hour, a former corporate executive grabbed her and rubbed himself against her,” the report said.
“The female examiner reported that while working in the field office, she was shocked to suddenly receive photos of a senior FDIC examiner’s genitals, but was later told by other employees in the field office to stay away from him because he had a ‘reputation,'” another section of the report said.
Maxford Nelsen, director of research and government relations at the Freedom Foundation, told the Caller that the report continues to link lack of discipline to unions in a “subtle” way. It may be difficult for the president to admit that unions are engaging in shielding bad actors, he added.
“The internal dysfunction at the FDIC so well documented in the Cleary report likely stems from multiple sources,” Nelsen said. “But no matter how uncomfortable it may be for the most pro-union administration in history to admit it, there is no denying that federal collective bargaining laws and the labor unions representing FDIC employees played at least some role in shielding bad actors from accountability and impeding or thwarting efforts to curb the FDIC’s toxic workplace culture.”
Andrew Holman, a policy analyst at the Commonwealth Foundation, echoed Nelsen’s comments, saying the report “A widespread problem in labor unions.”
The company noted in its report that it must comply with labor union rules established by the FDIC.
“Bargaining unit employees were informed whether they were being interviewed as potential suspects or witnesses, that they had the right to call a union representative at the interview if they reasonably believed the interview would lead to disciplinary action, and that interviews would be scheduled so that they would have the opportunity to seek the advice of a union representative if they wished,” the report noted.
The report puts Biden at a crossroads, Weaver told the Caller.
Biden has been known as a supporter of labor unions throughout his career, joining picket lines with striking union members to garner support in the 2024 election. The president is also a supporter of the #MeToo movement. Signed Biden also signed into law a bill banning the use of non-disclosure agreements to prevent individuals from speaking out about sexual harassment in the workplace. Supported Measures that allow victims of sexual harassment to bring lawsuits in court.
“Joe Biden claims to be a friend of working people. He touts his blue-collar roots in Scranton, Pennsylvania, but nothing has been shown in the last half century to indicate that Joe Biden has any real allegiance to the working class,” Weaver began.
In some of the incidents reported to the FDIC, employees feared they would face discrimination or harassment from their superiors if they reported the issues, according to the report.
“He’s a very wealthy man. He associates mostly with business and finance people and doesn’t talk to workers except when necessary for the campaign. And his bias against those in power is reflected in his attitude toward institutions that should treat workers better, with or without unions,” Weaver continued of Biden.
Not only is the president at odds with the two groups he has catered to so far, Weaver also cited Biden’s pledge to fire anyone who doesn’t respect their coworkers.
“I promise you, and I’m not kidding, that if you ever work with me and I hear you treat a colleague with disrespect or speak condescendingly to anybody, I will fire you on the spot,” Biden said during the swearing-in of his staff and appointees in 2021. “On the spot. No exceptions.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had no prepared reading when asked at a May 14 press conference whether the president planned to fire anyone “on the spot.”
“So, there are no personnel announcements at this time. The administrator of the FDIC, the chairman to be precise, has apologized and spoken about this matter. So, of course, I would send you over to the FDIC. The FDIC is an independent agency, so if there is any announcement from the FDIC on this matter, I would encourage you to contact the FDIC. But there are no personnel policy announcements at this time,” Jean-Pierre said.
The scandal comes as Biden struggles to counter polls that show him trailing Trump in key battleground states, with less than five months to go until the election and the president already grappling with his administration’s handling of the Israeli-Hamas war, concerns about his fitness to serve as president and low approval ratings.
Weaver told the Caller that the timing of the FDIC report could create further problems for Biden.
“This report has had a bigger impact in Washington than in other parts of the country. But as more of these cases come out and are reported, we’re going to see more media coverage. This is not a good reflection on Joe Biden and his leadership and accomplishments,” he said.
“Some of it was minor, some of it was much worse. So in any large organization, bad behavior is bound to happen, but this leader had to go. This director had to go. Joe Biden could have demonstrated his values, his plan and his beliefs by firing him, and he missed that opportunity. I think people who care about workers’ rights are definitely aware, but it remains to be seen whether they’ll communicate that to their grassroots supporters,” Weaver added.
