Brenda Lawrence on Chief of Staff Resignation: I Have ‘Zero Tolerance’ for Sexual Harassment

EXCERPT:

LAWRENCE: "None of those concerns were made or given to me. I did not have the opportunity to address them, which I would have. And while I have still confronted with anonymous sources, I took action because I do have a zero tolerance. No one should be in an environment where they feel like they are not safe when it comes to a work environment. And that’s why I’m doing an independent investigation in my office. And what I did, I brought in an outside person to do an assessment of my office to interview staff, my district and my congressional staff and make sure we set in processes that already I require every new employee to get a sexual harassment and their training and their manual. It's like what are your rights and where do you go? With this mandatory training, it takes it to another level. Who are the office of compliance? What does inappropriate behavior looks like? But the thing I want to do is make sure I’m checking in on a quarterly or twice a year to do a check-in and say, are you OK?"
CAMEROTA: "Yeah."
LAWRENCE: "Do you feel safe?"
CAMEROTA: "It makes sense."
LAWRENCE: "Is there anything -- I want this to be a model for all of our offices. I never again want to be made aware of someone’s concern in an anonymous article, because that is unacceptable for me for any employee to feel that way."