Sexual Harassment: Inconsistent and Incomplete Policies and Information Hinder VA's Efforts to Protect Employees

Abstract

A federal survey estimates that 22% of Veterans Affairs employees experienced workplace sexual harassment in 2014-2016. VA has policies to prevent and address harassment, but some are inconsistent and incomplete. For example, the person who oversees personnel functions (e.g., hiring, promotions) is the same person who oversees the complaint process. This can create a conflict of interest. In addition, VA doesnt centrally collect information on all complaintsmaking it harder to direct its resources for preventing and addressing sexual harassment where theyre needed most. Our 7 recommendations address these and other issues we found.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 2020
Accession Number
AD1173577

Entities

People

  • Cindy S. Brown Barnes

Organizations

  • United States Government Accountability Office

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accountability
  • Congress
  • Department Of Veterans Affairs
  • Directives
  • Discrimination
  • Employment
  • Equal Employment Opportunity
  • Federal Budgets
  • Federal Law
  • Gender Discrimination
  • Governments
  • House Of Representatives
  • Human Resources
  • Law
  • National Governments
  • Organizational Structure
  • Personnel Management
  • Sex
  • Sexual Assault
  • Sexual Harassment
  • Social Media
  • Training
  • United States Government

Readers

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  • Organizational Psychology.