The Sexual Assault problem

[Jenksismyhero]

He retracted his earlier statement to the AP and has issued a longer one

 

 

I mean, he's right, but the problem here is less about the legality of it and more about whether we want representatives to be the types of people that would be involved in a situation like that. Yeah, i'm sure there are disgruntled employees who may be seeking revenge by filing false claims, but usually where there is smoke there's fire.

[StrangeSox]

Ronan Farrow's reporting has been invaluable

 

Harvey Weinstein’s Secret Settlements

The mogul used money from his brother and elaborate legal agreements to hide allegations of predation for decades.

 

Settlements with strict NDA's are part of the problem.

 

 

On April 20, 2015, the Filipina-Italian model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez sat in an office in midtown Manhattan with an eighteen-page legal agreement in front of her. She had been advised by her attorney that signing the agreement was the best thing for her and her family. In exchange for a million-dollar payment from Harvey Weinstein, Gutierrez would agree never to talk publicly about an incident during which Weinstein groped her breasts and tried to stick his hand up her skirt.

 

“I didn’t even understand almost what I was doing with all those papers,” she told me, in her first interview discussing her settlement. “I was really disoriented. My English was very bad. All of the words in that agreement were super difficult to understand. I guess even now I can’t really comprehend everything.” She recalled that, across the table, Weinstein’s attorney was trembling visibly as she picked up the pen. “I saw him shaking and I realized how big this was. But then I thought I needed to support my mom and brother and how my life was being destroyed, and I did it,” she told me. “The moment I did it, I really felt it was wrong.”

 

Weinstein used nondisclosure agreements like the one Gutierrez signed to evade accountability for claims of sexual harassment and assault for at least twenty years. He used these kinds of agreements with employees, business partners, and women who made allegations—women who were often much younger and far less powerful than Weinstein, and who signed under pressure from attorneys on both sides.

 

Weinstein also hid the payments underwriting some of these settlements. In one case, in the nineteen-nineties, Bob Weinstein, who co-founded the film studio Miramax with his brother, paid two hundred and fifty thousand pounds, roughly six hundred thousand dollars today, to be split between two female employees in England who accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment and assault. The funds came from Bob Weinstein’s personal bank account—a move that helped conceal the payment from executives at Miramax and its parent company, Disney, as well as from Harvey Weinstein’s spouse.

[BigSqwert]

How the heck is Trump bulletproof when everyone else is getting s***canned when allegations are made? I mean he might be the least truthful person in all of these controversies yet people believe him? Mind-boggling

[StrangeSox]

How the heck is Trump bulletproof when everyone else is getting s***canned when allegations are made? I mean he might be the least truthful person in all of these controversies yet people believe him? Mind-boggling

 

 

"Specifically, Sen. Franken has admitted wrongdoing and the president hasn’t," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Friday. "That's a very clear distinction."

 

They maintain that the dozen+ accusers are all liars, with Trump himself implying that they're too ugly for him to have assaulted.

 

People in the media and entertainment industry are being shoved out the door, but for politicians, there haven't been any big-name resignations yet.

[Balta1701]

I mean, he's right, but the problem here is less about the legality of it and more about whether we want representatives to be the types of people that would be involved in a situation like that. Yeah, i'm sure there are disgruntled employees who may be seeking revenge by filing false claims, but usually where there is smoke there's fire.

If its still functioning at all, since he seems to be disputing the claim, this would be a fair setup for an Ethics Committee investigation as well.

[Balta1701]

Jesus, check out what is required of a "victim" to file a harassment complaint against a member of Congress. They even threw in one of those "mandatory arbitration clauses".

The 180-day statute of limitations to request “counseling”

In order to pursue accountability for a sitting member of Congress for an alleged incident of sexual harassment or assault, a victim must file a written notice with the Office of Compliance within 180 days of the incident. If they don’t act within 180 days, they have no ability to pursue their claims. As reporting on Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby and others reveals, it can take years for victims to feel comfortable coming forward.

 

Furthermore, the form to file such a complaint is password protected; a victim must call the Office of Compliance to get the password to initiate the process.

 

 

....

The 30-day “counseling” period

After filing the complaint, the person alleging harassment or assault must participate in a 30-day counseling period. Yes, in Congress, the victims of sexual harassment must submit to counseling, as if there is something wrong with them. During this period, no one else — including the alleged harasser — is even notified the complaint has been filed.

 

The 15-day statute of limitations to request mediation

After going through the counseling process, the alleged victim has just 15 days to file a request for mediation. If they fail to do so, the claim is extinguished. The form to request mediation is also password protected and must be obtained from the Office of Compliance.

 

The 30-day mediation period

After the counseling process, the alleged victim is still prohibited from filing a case in court. Rather, they must enter mandatory, confidential mediation which lasts at least another 30 days. The mediation period involves “the employing office, employee, and [Office of Compliance] mediator.” The purpose of the mediation, according to the Office of Compliance, is to “resolve the dispute.”

 

The individual alleging harassment or assault is also required to keep this mediation secret. “All mediation shall be strictly confidential, and the Executive Director shall notify each person participating in the mediation of the confidentiality requirement and of the sanctions applicable to any person who violates the confidentiality requirement,” according to the poorly named Congressional Accountability Act, which governs the process. The alleged perpetrator may not even be involved in this process, even if the claim is settled.

.....

 

The taxpayer-funded sexual harassment settlement

As part of the mediation process, the parties can reach a settlement to resolve the dispute. But this settlement is not paid by the person who actually conducted the sexual harassment. Rather, the settlement is paid by you, the taxpayer. “[O]nly funds which are appropriated to an account of the Office in the Treasury of the United States for the payment of awards and settlements may be used for the payment of awards and settlements under this chapter,” the Congressional Accountability Act states. This is why Conyers did not have to pay a penny of his own money to settle claims against his alleged victims.

 

According to the Washington Post, the Office of Compliance has paid more than $17 million over the past two decades to settle complaints regarding violations of workplace rules, including but not limited to sexual harassment cases. But BuzzFeed’s reporting indicates this doesn’t get at the scope of the problem. At least one settlement with a woman who alleged Conyers harassed her was paid from Conyers’ office budget, not from the Office of Compliance.

 

The 30-day waiting period and 60-day statute of limitations for filing a complaint

After making it through counseling and mediation, the victim must wait 30 days before doing anything. It’s unclear what this waiting period is for, other than to pressure the victim to accept a settlement offer or drop the claim. The victim then has just 60 days to either file an administrative complaint with the Office of Compliance or file a case in federal district court. The form to file an administrative complaint is also password protected. If the victim does not take any action within 90 days of the end of mediation, the claim is extinguished.

 

The secret administrative hearing

The administrative proceeding, unlike a federal court case, is also confidential and presents another opportunity for a perpetrator to keep the allegations secret. The hearings are closed to the public. (The hearing officer is empowered to dismiss any claim without a hearing if he or she judges the claim to be “frivolous.”) The responding party is not the individual that engaged in sexual harassment, but the office that employed that person. A record of the proceedings are only made public if the victim is successful.

 

 

If the victim disagrees with the decision, he or she must appeal first to the board of the Office of Compliance. After the Office of Compliance issue their decision, the victim may appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. That means there will be no independent evaluation of the evidence, rather the appeals court simply reviews for arbitrary or capricious application of the law, a very high legal standard.

 

If the victim wins in the administrative hearing, the payment is made from taxpayer money. They are not entitled to receive civil penalties or punitive damages under the law. This keeps both the awards and the settlements fairly low. Over 20 years, Congress has paid $17.1 million to 264 victims, a figure that includes sexual harassment and other forms of discrimination — an average award of about $65,000.

 

A federal case against a congressional office, not the person engaging in sexual harassment

After all this, a victim still cannot sue a member of Congress or other staff member who engaged in sexual harassment. Rather, if a victim choses to forgo the administrative hearing, he or she can file a federal case against the office where the sexual harassment allegedly occurred. In this case, victims are still not entitled to civil penalties or punitive damages. This makes the choice to file a suit, in most cases, prohibitively expensive since even a successful case will not bring in a large award.

 

Whatever money is awarded still is not paid by the sexual harasser but by taxpayers.

[bmags]

I mean, he's right, but the problem here is less about the legality of it and more about whether we want representatives to be the types of people that would be involved in a situation like that. Yeah, i'm sure there are disgruntled employees who may be seeking revenge by filing false claims, but usually where there is smoke there's fire.

 

Right. They have decided to solve that problem by creating a system of zero oversight which has much more predictable and irresponsible consequences for public servants.

[southsider2k5]

I think Ronan Farrow's incredible Weinstein story and follow-ups that showed how the system was used was more influential.

 

Yeah, Harvey broke the dam here. Everything else has flowed through since. Too bad the election didn't happen 18 months later, we might have gotten here without Clinton or Trump.

[Balta1701]

Yeah, Harvey broke the dam here. Everything else has flowed through since. Too bad the election didn't happen 18 months later, we might have gotten here without Clinton or Trump.

Because being a sexual abuser and admitting it on camera was important to people who voted Trump?

[southsider2k5]

Because being a sexual abuser and admitting it on camera was important to people who voted Trump?

 

With the margins we are talking about, it wouldn't take much at all to sway an election. Especially if the two candidates up top were worth a spit.

[bmags]

I'm sympathetic to the view that Trump's election led to the revelations about weinstein actually "meaning" something.

 

Trump being teflon to those accusations I think made people realize how performative the reactions to these claims have been. Something like the problem was they got caught. Maybe not the best way to put it, but the sheer number of victims from cosby to weinstein and how they were enabled made people wake up to something.

[StrangeSox]

Trump's come out in favor of Roy Moore:

 

"We don't need a liberal Democrat in that seat"

 

"Roy Moore denies it--that's all I can say"

Edited November 21, 2017 by StrangeSox

[southsider2k5]

I'm sympathetic to the view that Trump's election led to the revelations about weinstein actually "meaning" something.

 

Trump being teflon to those accusations I think made people realize how performative the reactions to these claims have been. Something like the problem was they got caught. Maybe not the best way to put it, but the sheer number of victims from cosby to weinstein and how they were enabled made people wake up to something.

 

Hopefully the idea that making excuses for these people is what puts us in position to get these kind of candidates is really taking hold. I doubt it, but I can hope.

[G&T]

Trump's come out in favor of Roy Moore:

 

"We don't need a liberal Democrat in that seat"

 

"Roy Moore denies it--that's all I can say"

 

So that is truly the WH line. If the accused denies, then it didn't happen. Protecting the status quo, which is all Trump has to protect himself.

[bmags]

Moore didn't even really deny it.

[southsider2k5]

So that is truly the WH line. If the accused denies (AND THEY ARE IN MY PARTY), then it didn't happen. Protecting the status quo, which is all Trump has to protect himself.

 

This is most accurate and pretty applicable across the board.

[StrangeSox]

I dunno, that's a pretty weird take when one party is calling for ethics investigations or even resignation of its own members and the other elected a man who bragged about sexual assault on camera and are about to elect a child predator.

[BigSqwert]

I dunno, that's a pretty weird take when one party is calling for ethics investigations or even resignation of its own members and the other elected a man who bragged about sexual assault on camera and are about to elect a child predator.

 

^This

[BigSqwert]

This tweet is spot on:

 

1970s gay teachers? they'll molest kids!

1980s gays in your home? they'll molest kids!

1990s gays adopting? they'll molest kids!

2000s gay marriage? they'll molest kids!

2010s transfolk using restrooms? they'll molest kids!

2017 What's the big deal with politicians molesting kids

[Jenksismyhero]

John Lasseter is the next domino. The head of Pixar. WTF.

[Balta1701]

“I think that, number one, you need to understand, 40 years ago, what the Sitz im Leben was like in Alabama. Judge Roy Moore graduated from West Point and then went on into the service, served in Vietnam and then came back and was in law school. All of the ladies, or many of the ladies that he possibly could have married were not available then, they were already married, maybe, somewhere.

 

“So he looked in a different direction and always with the [permission of the] parents of younger ladies. He did that because there is something about a purity of a young woman, there is something that is good, that’s true, that’s straight and he looked for that.”

Standard anti-abortion group leading minister.

[bmags]

That is...disgusting to put it lightly.

[RockRaines]

That is...disgusting to put it lightly.

Just a reminder that ministers are just people who chose the profession. It doesnt make them good or moral.

[southsider2k5]

He was a doctor for Team USA gymnastics

 

The Detroit News‏Verified account @detroitnews 1h1 hour ago BREAKING: Nassar pleads guilty to raping underage gymnasts http://detne.ws/2jOk23Y via @kimberkoz

 

 

[Dick Allen]

He was a doctor for Team USA gymnastics

 

The Detroit News‏Verified account @detroitnews 1h1 hour ago BREAKING: Nassar pleads guilty to raping underage gymnasts http://detne.ws/2jOk23Y via @kimberkoz

His next move should be to become a senator.