WASHINGTON – In the wake of a highly critical report on its workplace culture, the FDIC’s board has approved the creation of two new, independent offices that will report directly to the board and will handle claims of sexual harassment, discrimination, and other forms of interpersonal misconduct, as well as claims of retaliation.
The FDIC said its new Office of Professional Conduct (OPC) will intake, investigate, and report on complaints of harassment and interpersonal misconduct, and will determine and enforce discipline against anyone violating the FDIC’s anti-harassment or anti-retaliation policies.
In addition, the agency said its new Office of Equal Employment Opportunity (OEEO) will intake, investigate, and report complaints of discrimination under the laws enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
‘Separate Functions’
“The FDIC Board adopted these fundamental structural changes to the agency’s current framework for handling claims of harassment, discrimination, other interpersonal misconduct, and retaliation following feedback from FDIC employees, as well as recommendations in an independent third-party review of the agency’s workplace culture,” the FDIC said. “The new offices approved…will have separate functions because each must operate under distinct sets of law and policy.”
According to the FDIC, the work of the OPC will be driven by the FDIC’s Anti-Harassment Program Directive and will serve as a “single point of entry for employee complaints of harassment and other interpersonal misconduct. The OEEO will operate under several statutes enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission by serving as a single point of entry for employment discrimination claims.”
Directly Reporting to Board
Under the FDIC’s new structure, the OPC and the OEEO will be led by new corporate officers, appointed by the board and who will report directly to the board.
As CUToday.info reported, in late May the FDIC released an extensive report conducted by an outside party that interviewed more than 500 people and which concluded that for “far too many employees and for far too long, the FDIC has failed to provide a workplace safe from sexual harassment, discrimination, and other interpersonal misconduct.”
New Chairman Coming
The FDIC chairman, Martin Gruenberg, upon whom much of the blame was placed in the report, plans to resign as soon as his replacement can be approved by the Senate. The Biden Administration has nominated Christy Goldsmith Romero to for the job.
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