WASHINGTON _ The Treasury Department paid $220,000 in a previously undisclosed agreement to settle a lawsuit alleging sexual harassment involving Florida Democrat Alcee L. Hastings, according to documents obtained by Roll Call.
Winsome Packer, a former staff member of a congressional commission that promotes international human rights, said in documents that the congressman touched her, made unwanted sexual advances and threatened her job. At the time, Hastings was the chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, where Packer worked.
Hastings has called Packer's charges "ludicrous" and in documents said he never sexually harassed her. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
The 2014 payment to settle the case involving Hastings was not apparently included in a breakdown of payouts to settle discrimination complaints against House lawmakers from the past five years released last month by the Office of Compliance, which approves the payouts. That total included only one payment to resolve a sexual harassment claim _ $84,000 paid to settle a complaint against Texas Rep. Blake Farenthold.
The Senate hasn't released similar numbers.
The Hastings settlement raises new questions about the secretive and convoluted way Congress handles employee complaints of sexual harassment and other forms of discrimination.
Lawmakers, inspired in part by recent allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and President Donald Trump, have launched an effort to revise the 1995 Congressional Accountability Act that lays out the process of reporting and responding to such complaints.
A wave of harassment complaints has felled powerful figures in other industries in recent months and resulted in the resignations this week of two senior lawmakers, Reps. John Conyers Jr., a Michigan Democrat, and Trent Franks, an Arizona Republican. Minnesota Democratic Sen. Al Franken also announced he will be resigning "in the coming weeks."
But lawmakers seeking to determine the extent of the problem in Congress have been unable to obtain basic information from the administrative offices that oversee House and Senate employees, including names of current Congress members who have been named in complaints.
Recent reports have indicated that lawmakers can bypass official congressional offices to resolve disputes. Conyers resigned this week after revelations that he had paid a staff member who had accused him of harassment $27,000 out of his office account.
Packer was considered a congressional employee under the law that established the commission where she worked.
Also called the Helsinki Commission, the body is made up of 21 members, 18 of whom are members of the House and Senate appointed by the leaders of their respective chambers. The other members represent the Departments of State, Defense and Commerce and are appointed by the president.
Documents obtained by Roll Call indicate the OOC approved a $220,000 settlement to be paid to Packer by the Treasury Department, which issues payments to settle disputes involving lawmakers, according to documents obtained by Roll Call. Packer appears to have received a payment of that amount from the Treasury Department in May 2014, according to documents.
Officials from the OOC did not immediately return requests for comment Friday.
A spokeswoman for Maryland Democratic Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, who was the chairman of the Helsinki Commission in 2014, referred a request for comment to the House and Senate employment offices.
Packer told Roll Call that she felt "blackballed" after her ordeal and has since struggled to find other employment.
"As an immigrant who came here with all these ideals, it is like someone just removed all the foundations that I stood on in this country for all these years," said Packer, who was born in Jamaica.
House lawmakers have said they are working on legislation that would ensure victims of harassment will not be barred from future employment in Congress and can discuss their case if they want to. Lawmakers also want to ensure that future settlements are not paid by taxpayers.
"One case of sexual harassment is one case too many," a spokeswoman for House Administration Chairman Gregg Harper said. "This is why it is so important for the committee to conduct its extensive review of harassment and discrimination in the congressional workplace."
The House Ethics Committee issued a letter of disapproval to Hastings in December 2014 _ about seven months after the settlement was paid. The panel interviewed eight witnesses and concluded that the most serious allegations were "not supported by evidence" although Hastings "did admit to certain conduct that was less than professional."
Packer sued Hastings in 2011, a year after she filed a complaint with the OOC.
Packer was a former Republican Hill staffer who had lost her job when Democrats took control of Congress in 2006. She said in her lawsuit that Hastings, whom she knew through a friend, invited her to apply to the Helsinki Commission.
She was stationed in Vienna and was required to travel with Hastings to other foreign countries. She said in her lawsuit that Hastings, who was in his late 70s, repeatedly asked to stay at her apartment or to visit her hotel room. Packer, who was in her 50s at the time, also said he frequently hugged her, and once asked her what kind of underwear she was wearing.
When she filed her complaint, she was told that laws protecting congressional workers did not apply to commission staffers like her, according to court records and media reports.
