Why do taxpayers have to foot the bill for congressional settlements?
On Wednesday, the Congressional Office Of Compliance (OOC) releaseda decade’s worth of settlements and rewards broken-down year-by-year. Since 1997, a stunning $17 million has been shelled out to victims over such violations of theCongressional Accountability Act of 1995.
The breakdown was published by the OOC due to a flood of requests, explained executive director Susan Tsui.
“[B]ased on the volume of recent inquiries regarding payment of awards and settlements reached under the CAA, I am releasing these figures beginning with Fiscal Year 1997, up to and including FY 2017,” wrote Grundmann in statement.
“A large portion of cases originate from employing offices in the legislative branch other than the House of Representatives or the Senate, and involve various statutory provisions incorporated by the CAA, such as the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act,” explained the director. “The statistics on payments are not further broken down into specific claims because settlements may involve cases that allege violations of more than one of the 13 statutes incorporated by the CAA.”
