The Biden administration has yet to fully comply with a subpoena issued by the House Veterans Affairs Committee related to allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct within the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Resolution Management, Diversity, and Inclusion, according to a statement released by the committee on Monday
HVAC Chairman Mike Bost (R-Ill.) said Congress has a constitutional responsibility to find out who knew what, when they knew it, and why they didn’t stop it as it relates to the allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct.
“As chairman of this committee, I have a responsibility to every single person who walks through VA’s doors to do what I can to ensure that they are entering into a safe environment, free from any form of harassment,” he said.
ORMDI is the office charged with preventing sexual harassment and promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion within VA.
The committee voted 22-1 to subpoena numerous documents from VA in January following its failure to address allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct properly and adequately.
The committee received a copy of VA’s internal investigation conducted by the Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection last week.
“It is absolutely appalling that the Biden administration has ignored our lawful subpoena, but sadly, not surprising,” said Bost. “We will continue to seek the truth, no matter how long it takes, to ensure this alleged harassment never happens again and that those at fault are held accountable for the veterans they serve.”
A VA ORMDI whistleblower used the committee’s whistleblower portal last September to submit allegations of ORMDI senior leadership committing sexual harassment and misconduct. A second VA ORMDI whistleblower then informed the committee that they received numerous unwanted sexually suggestive and aggressive messages from multiple VA employees, including their senior manager, over the course of a year.
When the whistleblower did not consent to engage sexually with their supervisor, the supervisor’s attitude towards the whistleblower allegedly changed and the supervisor began to retaliate and bad mouth the whistleblower to ORMDI leadership, according to the committee’s statement.
That led Bost to make public the committee’s investigation into the VA ORMDI office and after seven weeks of no action, on the same day the investigation was made public, VA acted against the alleged individuals.
The next day, the Biden administration assistant secretary responsible for ORMDI, Gina Grosso, announced that she would be leaving VA. In late December Harvey Johnson, VA’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for ORMDI, announced he would be retiring.
Several other whistleblowers have also approached the committee with allegations about ORMDI and its leadership since the investigation was made public.
VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes said in a statement in January that VA had already provided the committee with 1,175 pages of documents, including 27 transcribed interviews from its internal investigation.
“VA does not tolerate sexual harassment,” he said. “We are treating these allegations with the utmost seriousness, have moved to aggressively investigate them, and will take swift and appropriate action.”
The committee will hold an oversight hearing on its investigation and will examine when senior VA leaders, not only within ORMDI, but within the entire VA, became aware of the misconduct allegations, how they responded and why ORMDI’s culture of negligence and harassment went on uninterrupted for so long next week.
To read more about the investigation into VA’s ORMDI office, click here.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.