FBI Bias Claims Prompt Women’s Caucus to Ask Bureau for Answers

Harassment and discrimination allegations at the FBI Training Academy have caught the attention of members of the Democratic Women’s Caucus.

Members of the caucus, including its co-chairwomen, Reps. Lois Frankel (Fla.), Jackie Speier (Calif.), and Brenda Lawrence (Mich.), and more than a dozen other congressional colleagues sent FBI Director Chris Wray a letter July 10 requesting information on the treatment of women at the agency’s academy.

Members requested the FBI turn over information about the agency’s policies and practices around fostering a “dignified and inclusive environment” for all of its trainees. They also asked for data pertaining to reports of harassment, discrimination, and retaliation at the Training Academy, as well as discharge rates for female and male trainees.

“Federal employees must feel safe to come forward to point out injustice or wrongdoing when they see it, without fear or reprisal. These women deserved a training environment free from harassment and discrimination and we believe the Bureau failed them,” the letter said.

The letter comes after 16 women sued the FBI on May 29, alleging female trainees have been subjected to a hostile environment based on sex since at least April 2015. Black and disabled female trainees also experience “gender-plus” bias, they allege. Female trainees have often been forced to take jobs several grades lower than they should. Others were fired or they were forced to quit under pressure or because they perceived it would be futile to continue their training, the original complaint says.

The proposed class action continues to work its way through the courts. It was filed under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Rehabilitation Act.

The case is Bird v. Barr, D.D.C., No. 19-cv-1581.