then, harassment on the job-- i sit down with the chair of the equal employment opportunity commission to talk about how h.r. departments can improve. and, what's the beef with beef? as the fake burger industry heats up, we bite into the debate over red meat. >> i think there is a place for animals in sustainable agriculture. however, that's not the kind of meat we're eating now. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> and the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: congress moved this evening to pass a temporary spending bill that will keep the federal government running through january 19. the house passed a republican measure, and the senate moved to fo

then, harassment on the job-- i sit down with the chair of the equal employment opportunity commission to talk about how h.r. departments can improve. and, what's the beef with beef? as the fake burger industry heats up, we bite into the debate over red meat. >> i think there is a place for animals in sustainable agriculture. however, that's not the kind of meat we're eating now. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

banks is here with the details according to a two thousand and sixteen report by the equal employment opportunity commission eighty five percent of women have reported being sexually harassed at work whether these women worked in media entertainment politics task or something else they've either quit or left the end astray because of the abuse they faced but that's beginning to change let's take a look at a couple of examples where accusers were fired from their positions today show host matt lauer was paid over one hundred million dollars by n.b.c. news over the course of his career before he was fired for an appropriate sexual behavior in the workplace lauer was among one of the highest paid a host on television pulling in twenty five million dollars annually before he was terminated his germination comes at a time when the today show has been the top rated morning news show among twenty five to fifty four year olds for the past two years however that is starting to decline according to nielsen total viewership for the program is down ten percent however the today show is generating a lot of revenue just

as the chairman said i'm the acting chair of the equal employment opportunity commission. i served for the last seven points five years and president trump designated the acting chair in january of this year. i was struck by the cases we would litigate and the egregious behaviors we were addressing on behalf of the terms of harassment. i had a conversation with her then chair who asked me to dig deeper into this issue. each of our regional attorneys. i was astonished but also deeply concerned that to a person and i was the same thing. the eeoc could if you want to have a docket consisting of nothing but harassment cases generally and sexual harassment cases specifically. this fact and concern on a leadership level with the process and send pervasiveness of the harassment claims we continue to see went to the establishment of the select task force in the workplace announced that group of experts that convened following the public commission meeting in january 2015. i was honored to chair this alongside my democratic colleagues who joins me in the hearing room today. this ye

but you're doing so because at some later point in time you're going to go to the equal employment opportunity commission or the commission on human rights or you're going to go to a local lawyer and those are going to be the smoking gun items that are going to add to your contention that you were harassed in the workplace you worked in that i imagine your phone's ringing off the wall lately what should employers be doing right now. employers should be taking a look inward the proverbial look in their mirror they should be looking at the company culture that they have developed right now and they should look at the stories they're reading in the newspaper and ask themselves the question does this sound like us if it does you have a problem and you can empower all you want the h.r. organization but the bottom line is the buck stops at the top and works its way down so management needs to take the lead they need to say that we're no longer going to be the organization that we have been they're going to ensure that the environment is safe is free of any type of harassment is not a hostile work environment a

. >> we are going to have witnesses in the equal employment opportunity commission in our office of compliance, the office that would review these cases, we are going to hear from them on best practices. they did a study last year where they looked at the whole problem of sexual harassment and found it still is very pervasive throughout the workplace. one of the things we know is that it's frequently not reported. one of the things they have found is in person training that really permeates and changes the culture that really is embraced from the top down and really goes throughout the whole system. that can change results and behaviors, change the culture. we want to get the best practices in place, focus on the victims. we are going to be changing the law and how we treat the victims. them on a level playing field. make it more victim friendly so they have a council or activity for them. right now the system doesn't provide that. and make sure we don't have taxpayer payment for any of thi this. i am pleased to report this has really been almost nonpartisan, and you've had the men and women i

witnesses included representatives from the equal employment opportunity commission in the office of later questions on strengthening federal laws that govern the response to complaints about congress. this is about two hours. >> now call to the order for the purposes of today'say hearing title preventing sexual harassment and the congressional workplace. examining reforms to the congressional accountability act. the hearing will remain open for five fledglingng of days so members may submit any materials they wish to be included. a quorum is president so we may proceed. i ask for unanimous consent that then committee on ethics chairwoman susan brooks representative jackie spear and bradley byrne be afforded the t opportunity to sit on the dais and question all of our witnesses today. without objection, so order. at the outset i would like to thank all of our witnesses for taking timesy out of what i know is a very busy schedule to be here. we are much appreciative of that. first and foremost, let me reiterate there is no place for sexual harassment in our society especially in congr

when i chaired the equal employment opportunity commission, which was 15 years after the statute had been passed, sexual harassment had not even been defined as a form of workplace discrimination. we held hearings and so defined it and the supreme court thereafter affirmed our findings. congress, nevertheless, exempted itself until 30 years later when in 1995, prompted by a controversy involving members of the congress, in fact brought congress under 13 major civil rights and labor laws. but mysteriously, and i cants understand why congress tempted it -- can't understand why congress exempted itself from the easiest provision. the provision we bring forward today for posting and training. i'll never understand that. but we're trying to move forward today other provisions. and i have introduced a bill to bring the comprehensive provisions that we now require of the legislative branch, of the private branch forward. and i thank the committee on administration for continuing to work on this. congress failed in 1964. it failed again in 1995. now in 2017 it is just mpossible to justify ex

of >> reporter: a year ago, before this wave of sexual misconduct allegations, the equal employment opportunity commissionreport it. now, a lot of them are recalibrating, including right here at nbc, about what is acceptable and what is not. disturbing allegations of sexual misconduct blanketing our newspapers, social media. >> kacharlie rose off the air. >> harvey weinstein, taking a leave of absence. >> reporter: everyone seems to be rethinking the american workplace. >> they see men in power. they see hollywood actors. they see comedians like everything is happening and they're getting fired. >> reporter: with sexual harassment and abuse in the facing long overdue conversations, about what is appropriate, what is not and where the line is. >> things that are blatantly harassment to me. and things that like, we used to be able to say these things together and now it's harassment. >> reporter: men and women are re-evaluating their own conduct, rethinking past events they witnessed or participating in. questioning whether a past action crossed the line. revelations of misdeeds have exploded into all profe

another one to file yearly reports with the equal opportunity employment commission on how many sex harassment cases they have. when employers don't have to disclose these internal settlements, when there's no public record about abuse it can cause great harm to rick times, other employees who may not know their ' working in a harassing environment or who the harassers are or even the public at large that kind of secrecy sounds familiar it's very descriptive of a system that congress itself set up for its own sexual harassment the late '90s congress office of compliance has paid out millions of dollars in settlements on the taxpayer's disiem. we're live at the capital tonight, tom fitzgerald, fox5 local news. >> coming up, the veeric in the trial of a d.c. area police officer charged with attempting to support isis. and gary mcgrady live in montgomery county. santa is spreading holiday cheer and so are you, gary. that's exactly right. in a neighborhood just off of false road in rockville. you see right back through there? they're staging. santa is on that firetruck. he's going to be coming thr

most employers go by equal opportunity employment commission, eo commission. so you have basic rules and structures in place. what we are trying to do is take a step over this and say get an independent system. make sure that the victims have services. this is the holidays, a time when a lot of people are triggered by past memories of sexual assault and harassment. with a new case coming out every hour there are a lot of victims who realize they've been out of power for too long and especially around the holidays. they really need the hot lines like 800-656-hope and others to help them get through. >> you have become the hot line in many cases for people who have had issues at the capitol. what has that been like for you as you wait for an actual independent and protected hot line? >> the victims who call us and continue to call me are very concerned. will my perpetrator see justice? will i be forever black listed if i put my name out there? what if i make a claim and name a name and then i am the one that's retaliated against and my perpetrator refuses to lea

they would also every year have to report to the equal opportunity employment commission on my reported cases of sexual harassment they have within their qup annually. when employers don't have to disclose these internal settlements when there's no public abuse it can cause great arm harm to victims, other employees who may not know they're working in a harass l environment or who the harassers are and even the public at large. oh may not know, environments where employees are harassed, if this sounds familiar it's because it sounds a lot like what is going on on capital hill in recent years. the system of congress has set up for itself requires accusers to sign these non-disclosure agreements. taxpayers have paid out millions of dollars in settlement since the late '90s. we don't know who most those harassers are because of those non-disclosure agreements. this bill was aimed at private businesses is up ending this system has protected us here up on the hill for decks decades. if you tell the people who lift the settlements if you want to come forward, nobody has tried to put that into

a year ago before this wave the equal employment opportunity commission learned that anywhere from 25workplace, but a lot of them didn't report it. now, people all over the country are recalibrating, including right here at nbc talking about what is acceptable in the office and what absolutely is not. endless cases involving big stars, disturbing accusations of sexual misconduct blanketing our newspapers, social media and televisions. >> matt lauer fired over allegations. >> charlie rose off the air. >> harvey weinstein taking a leave of absence. >> reporter: but far beyond hollywood and new york, everyone seems to be rethinking the american workplace. >> i've seen a lot of men on their best behavior. >> they see men in power and hollywood actors and comedians like, you know, everything is happening and they're getting fired in a split second. >> reporter: with sexual harassment and abuse in the spotlight, men and women are facing important long overdue conversations about what is appropriate and what is not and where the line is. >> things that are blatantly harassment to me, then th

the district of columbia, handling criminal prosications and an attorney for the equal employment opportunity commission. dan crowley has served as counsel to the firm k.l. gates and washington d.c. office since 2008. prior to joining kl gates for five years he was chief government affairs officer at the investment company institute, the national -- previously he was vice president and managing director of the office of government relations at nasdaq stock market ink. mr. crowley's earlier employment includes counsel to this committee, the committee on house administration and the committee on house oversight and the office of speaker nuewt gingrich. and you will each now have five minutes to present a summary of that submission. of course most of you have testified before or seen that so you have a clock in front of you that will help you keep up with your time. when you have gone, it will be green for four minutes and turn yellow for the last minute and red means that your time has expired. so the chair now recognizes our witnesses for the purposes of the opening statement. thank all four of you for b

attorney handling criminal prosecutions and as an attorney at --- attorney for the equal opportunity employment commission. then served as counsel for the washington d.c. office since 2008 prior to joining over five years was chief government affairs officer at the investment company institute, national association of the mutual-fund industry. previously vice president and managing director of the office of government relations his earlier employment includes counsel to the committee on the house administration and house oversight and we welcome you. the committee has received each of your testimonies and you each will have five minutes to present a summary. listed you have testified before so we have the clock in front of you that will help you keep track of her time. it will be green then turn yellow for the last minute and red means your time has expired. the chair recognizes the witnesses for the opening statement thanks for being here today. >> good morning in thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today about this subject has consumed headlines that sexual-harassment that we have known

you served at the equal employment opportunity commission. the first woman chair. wrote the original guidance on what is known as title vii. how is apply? guest: this may seem strange to but this is the late 70's. sexual-harassment had not been found by the courts to be a job discrimination violation. understand what this means. you are harassed on the job the the theory is you are kept from doing your job. there were a scant few cases in the district courts. no definitive cases. decide, along with my commission, is this a workplace that offends our statute? the supreme court later embraced our guidelines. why did take almost 15 years for sexual restaurant to even be a violation? the statue comes out of the experience of segregation of afton american. women were thrown in at the last moment by southern democrats that makes his understand little bit more about why sexual-harassment took so long to become an offense and white is taking so long for us to get a hold of it now. colorshe previous comment about expanding our changing to reflect modern day, what changes wo

it will also require all private companies to file a yearly report now with the equal opportunity employment commission on how many harassment claims they have had when employers don't have to disclose these internal settlements, when there's no public record about abuse it can cause great harm to victims, other employees who may not know they're working in a harassing environment or who the harassers are or even the public at large if that description at all sounds familiar because it sounds a lot like capital hill right now. the system that congress set up in the 90s, the office of compliance has shelled out nearly $60 million in taxpayers settlements because of harassment here on the hill because of non-disclosure agreements that congressman dat ed many of those harassers have had their identities kept a secret. we're live at the capital tonight, tom fitzgerald, fox5 local news. some of the biggest figures in entertainment have established a new commission aimed at fighting sexual misconduct in hollywood. the new group will be claird anita hill. the famous declared clarence thomas of sexual harassme