Legislature’s new procedures draw 181 workplace misconduct complaints in the past year

Legislative staffers registered 181 complaints of workplace misconduct in the past year, according to a letter sent to all staff by leaders of the Senate and Assembly.

The missive was sent Thursday, reporting on work by the Legislature's new Workplace Misconduct Unit investigating sexual harassment and other types of misconduct and discrimination. The letter stated that since it was formed, "Legislative employees have felt more comfortable with the improved process for dealing with workplace misconduct issues."

It was released along with another from the unit's director, Julia V. Johnson, a former administrative law judge for the State Personnel Board, sent to the leaders. Johnson reported 85 of the complaints had been resolved. She also noted the unit has hired a third investigator and another staff member to assess complaints since it began its work.

"We received many more complaints than expected," Johnson wrote, explaining the new staff were hired once it became clear "the number of complaints" was not dropping after several months.

The unit came out of the work of the Legislature's Subcommittee on Sexual Harassment Prevention and Response. This committee had been inactive for a decade but was reconstituted in late 2018 in response to the resignations of three Democratic legislators over harassment claims in the previous year. The state Senate recently agreed to pay $310,000 to the former legislative director for Sen. Tony Mendoza, D-Buena Park, who resigned in 2018. The staff member said she was fired for reporting his harassment of an intern.

On Friday, the Assembly Rules Committee sent letters of reprimand to Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo, D-Los Angeles, and her chief of staff, George Esparza. These stated that an investigation found Carrillo hugged someone and kissed them on the check against their will while Esparza made inappropriate sexual comments on two occasions.

-- Malcolm Maclachlan