Sen. John Kennedy pushed acting Labor Secretary Julie Su Thursday to crack down on the “creepy old men” at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) after the scathing findings of a sexual misconduct probe were released earlier this week.
During a Senate hearing on the Labor Department’s fiscal year 2025 budget, Su declined to call on FDIC chair Martin Gruenberg to resign or commit to investigating more than 500 complaints of workplace bullying, racial discrimination and sexual harassment.
Su, who has yet to be confirmed by the Senate as a member of President Biden’s Cabinet, admitted she hadn’t even heard of the independent report from New York law firm Cleary Gottlieb on the misconduct.
“The people who conducted the report, Madam Acting Secretary — and I’m surprised you haven’t followed it — asked employees at the agency to phone in complaints,” Kennedy (R-La.) informed Su in his signature drawl.
“There’s 6,000 employees — 500, almost one out of 10 employees, phoned in complaints,” he emphasized.
“Many of them were sexual complaints, sexual discrimination complaints; one young woman said, ‘My supervisor continuously sends me text messages with photographs of his penis,’” Kennedy deadpanned. “Is that a labor violation?”
“I mean, it’s horrible,” Su responded before saying that whether the behavior violated labor statutes was a “technical question.”
Kennedy, 72, went on to describe other appalling instances of sexual harassment and racial discrimination, including a Hispanic employee being forced by a supervisor to recite the Pledge of Allegiance to prove he was an American.
“One young woman said, ‘My supervisor sent me a text message saying, quote, “Get naked, b—-,”’” the senator said of another claim, stunning both Su and the hearing’s spectators.
“I think it’s unacceptable workplace behavior, certainly,” said Su, who also called the harassment “disgusting.”
She indicated that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) fields workplace sex harassment complaints, but said the duty to protect workers could fall under the Labor Department’s authority.
“You can initiate complaints — you’re the labor secretary. And I know from your behavior you believe in protecting employees,” Kennedy replied.
“This is as egregious as I’ve ever seen it,” he added. “I thought we’d already decided that this is no country for creepy old men.”
Gruenberg called the report “sobering” in a statement after its release before acknowledging he was “ultimately responsible” for the misconduct that occurred during his nearly two-decade tenure and vowed to implement its recommendations.
Republicans like House Financial Services Committee chairman Patrick McHenry of North Carolina have since called for him to resign, while Democrats such as Senate Banking Committee chairman Sherrod Brown of Ohio urged him to “accept responsibility and … immediately work to make fundamental changes to the agency and its culture.”
Su promised “to make sure that the EEOC is aware” of the complaints.
“Many supervisors and some members of the senior leadership at the FDIC are pigs; they are sexual predators; they are bigots,” Kennedy pressed Su.
“This issue has been out there for some time since the Wall Street Journal broke the story, at least six months, and so far the Department of Labor has said nothing, zero, zilch, nada.”
