BOSTON (AP) - A debate in the Massachusetts House on new procedures for handling sexual harassment allegations took a dramatic turn on Thursday after a lawmaker recalled her experiences as a 26-year-old staffer in the building.
Democratic state Rep. Diana DiZoglio told fellow lawmakers that she was forced to leave her job as a legislative aide in 2011 and pressured into signing a non-disclosure agreement after false rumors spread that she and a state representative had engaged in inappropriate behavior.
She said the practice of non-disclosure agreements should be ended completely. The new rules would limit their use but not eliminate them.
DiZoglio said even though an investigation found no wrongdoing, the rumors did not stop. DiZoglio, who was working as a legislative aide, said her boss at the time told her not to address the rumors.
“In my silence there were jokes, and in my silence there were assumptions, false assumptions, and in my silence more and more false rumors spread,” she said, adding that her boss finally told her she had to leave because the rumors were too much.
She said she approached Democratic House Speaker Robert DeLeo’s office to see if there were any other jobs, and was told there were not. She said DeLeo’s office then told her they would not release a six-week severance package until she signed the agreement which legally bound her from discussing what happened.
The agreement, she said, also included non-disparagement language which blocked her from criticizing any past, present or future elected members of the House.
“These silencing tactics have no place in this House. They cover up misdeeds by politicians and others and they empower perpetrators to move from one victim to the next,” she said.
DeLeo said on Thursday any suggestion that the agreements were used by the House to cover up wrongdoing is based on “irresponsible speculation.”
He said the new rules waive any non-disclosure or non-disparagement provision of any existing agreement and allow any current or former House employee to discuss a claim of sexual harassment or retaliation based on sexual harassment.
In an earlier statement, DeLeo said neither he nor his staff told DiZoglio that she could not talk about what happened while she was a House employee.
“In fact, at the conclusion of the investigation in June of 2011, House staff specifically informed her that she was free to speak to the media if she wished to do so and, at her request, assisted Representative DiZoglio with the preparation of a statement to the media,” the statement said.
DeLeo also said that he had not heard of the harassment DiZoglio experienced until this week. He said members of his staff met with DiZoglio three times in June 2011 as part of the investigation and DiZoglio never reported experiencing harassment.
DeLeo said that since January 2010, 33 individuals working for the House who had their employment terminated were offered “a small severance payment in exchange for executing a written agreement.”
DeLeo’s office said that while none of the 33 agreements were to settle claims of sexual harassment, he backed an amendment that would waive any past non-disclosure or non-disparagement provision of any such agreement to allow any current or former House employee to report or discuss a claim of sexual harassment or retaliation based on sexual harassment.
Democratic Rep. Marjorie Decker, of Cambridge, said under the new rules, which were adopted by the House on Thursday, the only time a non-disclosure agreement will occur is when the individual who has been victimized seeks one.
At least one lawmaker said there should be a probe into the past use of non-disclosure agreements.
During the debate, Democratic Rep. Angelo Scaccia, called on Democratic Attorney General Maura Healey’s office to investigate.
DeLeo said as part of an internal review of the House’s human resources function, lawyers met with Healey’s office to discuss “best practices,” but did not identify any reason to ask Healey to conduct her own review.
The new procedures are largely aimed at protecting the confidentiality of people who have experienced sexual harassment but fear retaliation from powerful lawmakers if they come forward. One provision calls for appointment of an equal opportunity employment officer in the House to review complaints.
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