Washington – The person designated by President Bush to head the U.S. Mint promised Wednesday he’d work aggressively to thwart sexual harassment of workers, a persistent problem at the Denver facility.
“You have my commitment that I will do everything in my ability to see that discrimination does not happen at Denver or any Mint facility,” Edmund Moy told the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.
Moy, who would take over as director of the U.S. Mint if approved by the Senate, said that any kind of harassment is “repellant behavior,” according to Sean Conway, chief of staff for Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., who sits on the banking committee.
Allard asked Moy at the hearing whether he was familiar with problems at the Denver Mint, Conway said, and how he planned to deal with sexual harassment issues in the future.
In April, the U.S. Mint in Denver agreed to pay out nearly $9 million to settle claims of sexual harassment, retaliation and discrimination. About half of the Mint’s 132 female employees are expected to receive the money.
The women in individual claims said that their managers propositioned them for sex; forced them to endure displays of pornographic posters, sex magazines and e-mails of nude women; and retaliated against them for speaking out.
From 1998 to 2003, 102 formal complaints of job discrimination were filed against the Denver Mint, more than three times the complaints filed against the larger Philadelphia Mint.
Moy told the committee that he had experienced harassment as an Asian-American, and because of that finds it even more abhorrent, Conway said. He and Allard talked about the need for ongoing education and training of employees.
Allard said he would support Moy’s nomination, based on his assurances about dealing with Mint harassment problems.
“I share Mr. Moy’s belief that any harassment is abhorrent behavior,” Allard said. “I commend him for his willingness to lead by example and his intention to address these problems from the top down.”
A committee vote on Moy’s nomination has not been scheduled. He then must be approved by the full Senate. Moy most recently worked for Bush in the Office of Presidential Personnel. He has been a sales and marketing executive with venture capital firms and entrepreneurs, and for four years supervised federal government expenditures for managed health care programs.
