AFSCME Council 28 (WFSE) urges passage of bill to protect privacy of state employee victims of sexual harassment
AFSCME Council 28 (WFSE) on Tuesday (Jan. 30) urged a House committee to pass a bill to protect the privacy of state employees who blow the whistle on sexual harassment.
HB 2778 would prohibit state agencies from disclosing to the Freedom Foundation, media or anyone else any personal information about any stare employee who makes a sexual harassment claim.
The bill aims to stop the Freedom Foundation or anyone else from getting such information and using it to “harass, stalk, threaten or intimidate” who blow the whistle on sexual harassment.
“Threats to state employees are real – this is not hypothetical,” AFSCME Council 28 (WFSE) LPA Director Dennis Eagle told the House State Government Committee.
State employees come to work to help others, not face harassment, he said.
“We believe strongly in our mission to serve everybody without discrimination,” Eagle said. “We would ask you to keep in mind that sometimes that service comes with risks to personal safety.”
The #MeToo and #TimesUp awareness have taught us is victims of workplace sexual harassment need safety, not secrecy, he said.
“(We need) to provide victims of sexual harassment with a safe harbor,” Eagle said. “We need to create a culture where victims can report abuse safely without fear of reprisal or risk.”
HB 2778 is part of the AFSCME Council 28 (WFSE)’s #MeToo effort that includes the bill to keep dates of birth private (SB 6079) and the bill to make workplace bullying an unfair labor practice (HB 2888).
