The federal judiciary should consider awarding employees who are the victims of workplace misconduct at the hands of judges monetary damages and increase transparency about how courts address worker complaints internally, says a congressionally directed study released Wednesday, Reuters reports. Those proposals were among 34 recommendations contained in a report by the judiciary's research arm and a congressionally chartered academic institution that examined the courts' current systems to address complaints of sexual harassment, discrimination and other misconduct. The report found inconsistencies in how federal courts nationally address workplace complaints, a lack of a comprehensive system to collect and analyze data about those cases, and a failure of about a quarter of courts' websites to have required information on how they address employment disputes. The report by the Federal Judicial Center and the National Academy of Public Administration was released by Rep. Norma Torres (D-CA), who secured language in a 2023 appropriations bill authorizing the study and has pushed for greater protections for judicial employees.
"The report reveals startling findings, emphasizing the absolute need for internal reforms," Torres said. A spokesperson for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, the judiciary's administrative arm, said the agency was "committed to fostering an exemplary workplace," adding a working group was assessing ways to build on recent reforms. The report was released a week after a federal judge in Alaska, Joshua Kindred, resigned after an investigation by the 9th Circuit Judicial Council found he had created a hostile work environment for his law clerks and fostered an inappropriate sexualized relationship with one of them. The federal judiciary has sought to reform how misconduct complaints are handled after sexual harassment allegations emerged against some judges amid the rise of the #MeToo movement in 2017. Those judges included Alex Kozinski, a prominent judge on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals who resigned after harassment accusations by former female clerks. Kozinski suggested he was misunderstood and apologized.