Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, AGENCY NEWS—FDIC outlines its ‘workplace transformation’ steps and progress, (Feb 24, 2026)
Organizations Mentioned:Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, LLP
By Nora Macaluso
The report highlights the changes the agency has made to improve its workplace culture following a string of reports of the agency’s failures in this area.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has released a report detailing action taken to improve workplace conditions following an Office of Inspector General report recommending improvements. “Actions taken focus on ensuring an effective anti-harassment program with new policies in place, confidential reporting channels, credible procedures for investigating and addressing misconduct, and accountability when allegations are substantiated,” the FDIC said.
The FDIC said the “most critical piece” of its transformation effort “is the complete revamp of its investigative process for allegations of harassment and interpersonal misconduct.” That includes the creation of two new investigative offices, the Office of Professional Conduct and Office of Equal Employment Opportunity. Both offices are independent of other FDIC offices.
The agency said it also revised its anti-retaliation policy to protect complainants and hold those found to have engaged in retaliation accountable; developed a policy on personal relationships; provided enhanced free counseling services for employees and a hotline for complaints about harassment, interpersonal misconduct, or retaliation anonymously. It also said it “realigned” functions including its alternative dispute resolution process and anti-harassment coordinator function.
Additional actions include an updated code of conduct, new standard operating procedures to ensure that investigations are fair and unbiased, a new code of conduct, and new anti-harassment and anti-retaliation training. Leadership performance standards are also updated, and a travel policy survey was distributed to employees to help hone travel regulations.
The FDIC said it expects to have a new case management system for tracking harassment, retaliation, and interpersonal misconduct complaints this year, and has implemented an interim system in the meantime.
The agency has taken steps to improve its culture since 2023, when allegations of harassment came to light.
Previous criticism. In May 2024, a third-party review of workplace culture at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation found that the agency “failed to provide a workplace safe from sexual harassment, discrimination, and other personal misconduct.” The review, conducted by law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, “further found that management’s responses to allegations of misconduct, as well as the culture and conditions that gave rise to them, have been insufficient and ineffective (see Banking and Finance Law Daily, May 8, 2024).
In August 2024, OIG issued a report finding the FDIC lacked an effective program for preventing sexual harassment. The FDIC had failed to keep up changes it made as the result of a prior OIG evaluation from 2020, according to the report (see Banking and Finance Law Daily, Aug. 2, 2024). The August 2024 report found the FDIC did not have an adequate system for tracking sexual harassment complaints. As a result, the data the FDIC does have on the problem is limited in accuracy and completeness. There also weren’t "effective complaint procedures" for employees to report harassment or a formal system of training for people who investigate reports. Anti-harassment training is also lacking at the agency, according to the report. The report stated that the FDIC's leaders hadn't "demonstrated sufficient commitment to, and accountability for," its harassment prevention program, failing to allocate "sufficient resources" or "staff time" for stopping harassment and failing to anonymously survey employees about whether harassment is going on.
However, in a December 2024 OIG report, FDIC employees surveyed by the OIG “had generally positive views” about their colleagues and direct managers, but were less pleased with leadership’s handling of harassment and misconduct. The report recommended the FDIC improve conditions “by setting a tone at the top where all FDIC executives model the FDIC’s core ethical values,” (see Banking and Finance Law Daily, Dec. 20, 2024).
News: AgencyNews SexualHarassment Discrimination PublicEmployees