Sacramento City Councilman Says City Isn’t Doing Enough To Prevent Harassment
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A Sacramento City Councilman says the city isn’t doing enough to prevent sexual harassment after three cases of allegations recently made headlines.
City Councilman Steve Hansen’s comments come after allegations against Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson and City Councilman Allen Warren. While the mayor’s allegations were not substantiated, Warren’s allegations are under investigation.
Hansen is on a mission to shore up the city’s sexual harassment policy in the wake of the allegations.
“I think these allegations, while I won’t comment on them, have raised questions about how we can be doing things better,” he said. “I spent most of last week talking to different experts, researching what we had and what other cities have and I came to the conclusion that we could do a lot better.”
Hansen says the city’s policy is outdated. A paragraph on the city’s human resources website has a link to read more, but the link doesn’t seem to work.
“Our policy doesn’t say we have no tolerance for this behavior, it doesn’t explicitly say that it’s illegal which it is,” he said. “San Jose’s policy is 11 pages long, but it also deals with if an elected official does something that is inappropriate how to report it.”
Hansen is expected to ask the city auditor to evaluate the city’s policy over the next 30 days. It’s a move that seems to be frustrating the mayor’s office.
“As far as Mr. Hansen’s comment, disappointing that he didn’t come directly to council to have any of these discussions, but instead you know decided to go right to the media, and frankly exploit two ongoing investigations,” said Johnson spokesman Ben Sosenko, referring to comments about the allegations, as well as allegations City Councilwoman Angelique Ashby mistreated a staff member who needed time off.
Employment attorney Robert Bowman says strict policies keep cities protected.
“You should have your managers trained in the policy, your supervisors, and have your employees knowledgeable about what the policy is and where to complain,” he said.
Hanse has also suggested Warren and Ashby step down from a city ad-hoc committee reforming city business and fostering good government.Sacramento City Councilman Says City Isn’t Doing Enough To Prevent Harassment « CBS Sacramento: