Meteorologist Union Requests Grassley's Help in Exposing Sexual Harassment at Nominee's Firm

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National Weather Service Employees Organization

Apr 10, 2019, 05:48 ET

DES MOINES, Iowa, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The union that represents the meteorologists and technicians at National Weather Service offices nationwide today called upon Senator Grassley to demand that the Department of Labor release its investigative report on the sexual harassment investigation of AccuWeather, Inc., the company owned and headed by Barry Myers at the time, who has been nominated to head the NWS's parent agency.

Last June, AccuWeather entered into a Compliance Agreement with the Labor Department under which AccuWeather agreed to pay 35 female employees $290,000 in damages for sexual harassment in the workplace. According to this Compliance Agreement, DOL "found AccuWeather discriminated against female employees by subjecting them to sexual harassment and a hostile work environment" and "further found that AccuWeather did not exercise reasonable care to prevent and correct such conduct."

While the Compliance Agreement has been publicly released (https://www.dol.gov/ofccp/foia/files/20180619-AccuWeather-CA-I00201572-MA-Redacted .pdf), the January 26, 2018 Results of Investigation referenced in the agreement, and which apparently contain the details of the workplace misconduct found by DOL, have not been made available. In a letter sent today union Regional Chair Jim Lee, who is a forecaster at the Des Moines Forecast Office, asked Senator Grassley to obtain and release a copy of the investigative report before the Senate votes on the nomination of Myers to be Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere. "We are seeking your assistance because you have been a champion of NOAA employees and were personally responsible in 2015 for the enactment of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Sexual Harassment and Assault Prevention Act," Lee wrote.