Feds, state settle harassment probe into Cuomo's governor's office

ALBANY — The U.S. Department of Justice and  New York State have settled an investigation into sexual harassment and retaliation allegations against the governor's office under former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.

The Justice Department announced the agreement on Friday with Cuomo’s successor, Gov. Kathy Hochul, and called for the executive chamber to adopt more measures to protect workers from sexual harassment. The settlement also noted several measures that Hochul took to address the matter after she ascended to the governor’s office in 2021.

“The United States found that former Governor Cuomo subjected at least thirteen female employees of New York State, including Executive Chamber employees, to a sexually hostile work environment,” the settlement document states. “Governor Cuomo repeatedly subjected these female employees to unwelcome, nonconsensual sexual contact; ogling; unwelcome sexual comments; gender-based nicknames; comments on their physical appearances; and/or preferential treatment based on their physical appearances.”

In a statement, Hochul said, “The moment I took office, I knew I needed to root out the culture of harassment that had previously plagued the Executive Chamber and implement strong policies to promote a safe workplace for all employees, and took immediate action to do so. I am pleased that the U.S. Department of Justice has acknowledged the significance of those efforts, and look forward to partnering with them as we continue to build upon that success.”

The settlement doesn’t bring any charges against Cuomo, a Democrat, or other executive chamber employees. It states the settlement with the Hochul administration “shall not constitute an adjudication or finding on the merits of the case.”    

“Governor Cuomo did not sexually harass anyone,” said Rita Glavin, Cuomo’s attorney. “The DOJ ‘investigation’ was based entirely on the NYS Attorney General’s deeply flawed, inaccurate, biased, and misleading report. At no point did DOJ even contact Governor Cuomo concerning these matters. This is nothing more than a political settlement with no investigation.” 

The federal settlement mirrors findings by state Attorney General Letitia James in 2021.

On Aug. 4, 2021, James' report concluded Cuomo sexually harassed at least 11 women. Cuomo’s supporters repeatedly have criticized James and the sexual misconduct investigation as flawed and unfair. The one criminal charge that arose from the accusations was dismissed by the Albany County district attorney in January 2022. Cuomo resigned in August 2021 amid several claims of sexual harassment, mostly by women staffers.

Cuomo continues to face lawsuits by some of the women.

“We are pleased the U.S. Attorney’s office and the Executive Chamber have taken serious steps to ensure nothing like the abuse Cuomo engaged in will happen again,” said Mariann Wang, an attorney. She represents two of the women who accused Cuomo in civil suits, Alyssa McGrath and Virginia Limmiatis. “We hope these measures have real impact and prevent the kind of repeated abuse of power that resulted in so much harm to so many women.”

The settlement also notes failures by some unidentified members of Cuomo’s staff.

“The Executive Chamber was aware of Cuomo’s conduct but failed to effectively remediate the harassment on a systemic level,” the settlement states. “When employees attempted to raise concerns about Cuomo’s conduct to his senior staff, Cuomo’s staff failed to follow Equal Employment Opportunity policies and procedures to promptly report those allegations to the appropriate investigative body.

“Indeed, the Executive Chamber’s response was designed only to protect Cuomo from further accusations, rather than to protect employees from sexual harassment,” the settlement states.

The Sexual Harassment Working Group founded by women fighting harassment in their state jobs said the report shows the state must aggressively and independently investigate claims of sexual harassment.

“If institutions like the New York Executive Chamber are going to keep staffers safe and hold harassers accountable, they need to look beyond training, create a truly independent investigative body, and not implement confusing systems that will only make it harder for employees to report their experiences,” said Erica Vladimer, co-founder of the group.

The settlement notes that Hochul took several measures that require prompt attention to any sexual harassment accusations. The settlement calls for more, including:

• Expanding the human resources department in the executive chamber.
• New policies for reporting and investigating complaints “involving high-level Executive Chamber employees, including the governor.”
• Developing and implementing “robust training” and programs to stop any retaliation.
• Regularly assessing the effectiveness of these and previous reforms.

The Hochul administration agreed to the additional measures.

By Michael Gormley

michael.gormley@newsday.com@GormleyAlbany

Michael Gormley has worked for Newsday since 2013, covering state government, politics and issues. He has covered Albany since 2001.