A secretive, multi-million dollar taxpayer-funded slush fund used for years to pay off victims of sexual misconduct was tapped to settle a lawsuit against New York Rep. Gregory Meeks.
In March 2006, the Democratic Congressman from Queens settled a lawsuit brought by a female staffer who said that he fired her after she sued one of his donors for sexual harassment, according to court papers.
Although the amount of the settlement was never made public, the funds were provided by the Congressional Office of Compliance, an agency set up in 1995 to resolve labor and other disputes, including sexual-harassment complaints, brought by congressional staffers against lawmakers.
The agency recently came under fire when it was revealed that it had spent more than $17 million in settlements over 22 years, many related to sexual-harassment claims against mostly unnamed members of Congress.
In 2014, the office paid out $84,000 to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit brought against Texas Republican Rep. Blake Farenthold by a former communications director. The congressman, who said he would resign last week, has promised to return the funds.
In March 2006, the fund paid an undisclosed settlement in a lawsuit brought by Andrea Payne, a congressional aide in Meeks’ office from 1998 to 2000.
Payne had filed a separate lawsuit against Flowers Physical Therapy, a clinic run by Joan and Neville Flowers in Queens, alleging that a massage therapist in their office had sexually abused her. The couple are longtime campaign donors and fundraisers for the Congressman.
After she filed the lawsuit in May 2000, Payne said that she was forced to work overtime without compensation and was not reimbursed for work-related expenses, court papers say. She was also subjected to “verbally abusive language” in the Congressman’s district office, according to court filings.
Meeks fired Payne in October 2000. The Congressman later said that she had resigned, making it impossible for Payne to collect unemployment benefits from New York State, court papers say.
Payne, who complained to the Congressional Office of Compliance, sued Meeks in federal court in 2001, and the case was settled five years later.
A spokeswoman for the congressional panel refused to comment on individual cases, and would not provide details of the Meeks settlement. In 2006, the year the Meeks complaint was settled, the Congressional Office of Compliance disbursed a total of $849,529 in 18 cases.
“This was absolutely not a sexual harassment or sexual assault case,” said Meeks through a spokesman. “Any suggestion to the contrary is false, and an egregious attempt to mislead.”
Meeks would not comment on the amount of the settlement.