Sexual harassment complaints against former deputy mayor have been resolved

WASHINGTON – D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s legal team announced Thursday that it has reached a settlement agreement with two women who reported sexual harassment by a former district employee, John Falcicchio.

The former D.C. deputy mayor abruptly left the Bowser administration on March 17, 2023, after already working with the mayor before her election in 2014. At the time, his departure was mentioned only as a footnote in a press release that highlighted leadership changes and thanked Falcicchio for his many years of service to the city. Three days later, Bowser made an official statement about the departure, announcing that an investigation into Falcicchio would be conducted by the Mayor’s Office of Legal Counsel (MOLC) following complaints of sexual harassment.

After numerous investigations, the MOLC determined that Falcicchio committed five counts of unwanted physical sexual advances in 2020.

Now the MOLC says it has reached an agreement with the women involved, but no further details have been disclosed.

“We can confirm that the MOLC, on behalf of the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, has resolved the two administrative complaints against the former deputy mayor,” the Mayor’s Office of Legal Counsel wrote in a statement. “The confidentiality provisions in the agreements prevent us from disclosing the terms of the settlements unless required by law.”

Attorneys for the women who reported the harassment, Debra Katz and Kayla Morin, also said they could not provide details about the settlement but issued a joint statement in response.

“We would like to once again commend the courage of our two clients who came forward to expose both Falcicchio’s sexual harassment and the significant deficiencies in the D.C. government’s sexual harassment policy that allowed his behavior to go unchecked for too long “, wrote Katz and Morin. “Their efforts and the good they have done led to significant policy changes in D.C. government that we hope will improve working conditions for city employees in the months and years to come.”

RELATED: Timeline: Here’s where Mayor Bowser learned about sexual harassment allegations against her chief of staff

In the months following the departure, investigation and findings, the Bowser administration made numerous changes to office policies. In October, the mayor signed an executive order updating existing sexual harassment policies consistent with updated federal and local laws amended in 2022. The 24-page order banned sexual and romantic relationships between supervisors and employees in their chain of command. District officials said such relationships were “strongly discouraged” before the order. Although some chains of command will be clear, officials said each agency will determine what the structure should look like. Couples who already had a sexual or romantic relationship and wanted to maintain their roles were required to disclose their relationship and could submit a waiver for consideration.

Under Bowser’s new guidelines, all district employees will be required to complete sexual harassment training annually, instead of every two years as previously.

The order also expanded the definition of sexual harassment, saying that the conduct “does not have to be severe or pervasive to constitute harassment” and that “no specific number of incidents or a specific level of egregiousness is required.” The new definition was used by the MOLC to investigate the allegations against Falcicchio.

Finally, a sexual harassment task force was formed to advise on future policies.

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