Harassment and Discrimination on the Basis of Gender and Race/ethnicity in the FEMA Workforce

About this book

Following the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA's) 2018 internal investigation into sexual harassment and misconduct in its senior leadership ranks, FEMA leaders chose to openly discuss the problems and the need to develop and maintain a workplace in which all employees are treated with professionalism and respect. Although FEMA's investigation provided insights into the culture and misconduct in one FEMA office, it was not designed to provide a comprehensive account of harassment and discrimination across the organization. Thus, FEMA asked the Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center (HSOAC) to provide an independent and objective assessment of the prevalence and characteristics of harassment and discrimination at FEMA. In April and May 2019, HSOAC fielded a survey designed to estimate the annual prevalence of workplace harassment and discrimination at FEMA and assess employee perceptions of leadership and workplace climate. In addition to sexual harassment, the survey assessed gender discrimination and racial/ethnic harassment and discrimination to provide a more complete description of the types of civil rights violations (harassment or discrimination on the basi…