NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) — The Department of Justice announced on Friday that it has signed an agreement with the State of New York Executive Chamber confirming the department's claims that former Gov. Andrew Cuomo engaged in a pattern of sexual harassment and retaliation that affected at least 13 female staffers.
The harassment that Cuomo’s Executive Chamber participated in is a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of sex and other demographic markers, and forbids employer retaliation against those who report discrimination, the DOJ said.
The investigation, conducted by the department's Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, found that Cuomo “(1) subjected female employees to a sexually hostile work environment; (2) tolerated that environment and failed to correct the problem on an agency-wide basis and (3) retaliated against employees who spoke out about the harassment.”
Cuomo and many senior staff members, who the DOJ said were complicit in the pattern of harassment, left the Executive Chamber in 2021 amid misconduct reports.
“The conduct in the Executive Chamber under the former governor, the state’s most powerful elected official, was especially egregious because of the stark power differential involved and the victims’ lack of avenues to report and redress harassment,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division said.
Since the investigation began in August 2021, the Executive Chamber under Gov. Kathy Hochul has begun implementing policy changes to prevent and address the alleged misconduct. Friday’s agreement touts these efforts, and calls for additional reform.
These changes include expanding the Human Resources Department for the Executive Chamber; creating new procedures for external reporting, investigation and resolution of complaints that involve high-level public servants, including the governor; enacting training and anti-retaliation programs; and assessing the systemic effectiveness of the implemented reforms.
“We appreciate the Governor’s stated determination to make sure that sexual harassment does not recur at the highest level of New York State government,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said. “We share that goal and enter into this agreement to advance our common goal of creating clear, comprehensive and, most importantly, enduring policies preventing sexual harassment in the Executive Chamber.”
“With this settlement agreement, the Executive Chamber under Governor Hochul is undertaking additional actions that will address system failures of the past while helping prevent the recurrence of systemic sexual harassment and retaliation in the future,” Clarke said.
Cuomo's attorney, Rita Glavin, released a statement in response to the agreement on Friday that denies any wrongdoing.
“Governor Cuomo did not sexually harass anyone. The DOJ 'investigation' was based entirely on the NYS Attorney General’s deeply flawed, inaccurate, biased, and misleading report. At no point did DOJ even contact Governor Cuomo concerning these matters. This is nothing more than a political settlement with no investigation," the statement read.
A Cuomo spokesman, Rich Azzopardi, seconded the former governor's innocence in a statement on Friday, and emphasized flaws in the investigation process.
“It's no coincidence that Breon Peace — Chuck Schumer’s handpicked U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District who signed off on this meaningless agreement — was Joon Kim’s law partner while Kim was leading AG James’ since discredited report. This isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on, and it’s ironic that Gov. Hochul, who herself is being accused of retaliation, signed off on it.”
This agreement comes less than a week after Cuomo filed a lawsuit against New York Attorney General Letitia James to get the accuser interviews that spurred the original harassment report that led to his 2021 resignation.