Former Staffers Accuse Progressive Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal of Mistreatment, Toxic Work Culture
- They say their former boss âberated staff in front of others, demanded grueling hours, and maintained an office culture marked by constantly changing expectations and little tolerance for error.â
Several former staffers who worked for Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), have accused her of allegedly mistreating them. Over a dozen of those, who worked for Jayapal, considered one of the leading progressive voices in the Congress, and chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told BuzzFeed News that Jayapalâs interactions with her employees âhave run counter to the public persona sheâs built for herself.â
According to the BuzzFeed News report, a few months after Jayapal, the first Indian American woman elected to the U.S. Congress, introduced the Paycheck Recovery Act, âaimed at curbing layoffs during the pandemic by having the federal government pay peopleâs salaries,â she âlaid off two staffers without severance.â
While BuzzFeed News didn’t speak to the staffers who were laid off, it cites sources to report their experiences.
Speaking about the staffers, Chris Evans, a spokesperson for Jayapal, told BuzzFeed News âthe staffers were given six weeksâ notice.â He said the reason for letting them go was due to âa decision to consolidate,â which was made to âbest utilizeâ the officeâs resources.
Sources told BuzzFeed News that the staff member who was told they were being laid off âwas invited to reapply for a new job in the office that would consolidate the two roles.â Although the staffer applied for the job, which was ânearly identical to the one they had been laid off from,â they later found out, âwithout any advance warning,” that they didn’t get it.
Four staffers who spoke to BuzzFeed News said the incident upset them, but they added that one of many instances in which Jayapalâs interactions with her employees. They said, throughout her five years in the Congress, Japayal has built âa dysfunctional and volatile workplace,â where there is âa serious disconnect between how she talks about workersâ rights and how she treats her own staff.â
They said their former boss âberated staff in front of others, demanded grueling hours, and maintained an office culture marked by constantly changing expectations and little tolerance for error.â This led to some staffers seeking therapy and questioning their careers in public service.
They said, âburnout, lack of upward mobility, low pay, and an unsustainable work environment were among the reasons they chose to leave.â While one source admitted to taking a pay cut to get out of office, another said they had been âfighting for a raise for nearly a year,â before it became too much, âemotionally, physically, and mentally.â They confessed that âdespite believing in Jayapalâs cause and having a certain image of her, former staffers were largely disappointed by the reality of working for her.â
One staffer told BuzzFeed News: âIâve worked in bad environments before, and I have worked in some awful environments before for some awful people. Iâve been colleagues with some awful people,â but âI have never worked in a place that has made me so miserable and so not excited for public service as Pramila Jayapalâs office.â
The report said that staffers chose to remain anonymous, but were âobligated to speak out despite worrying that a critical story about Jayapal would reflect poorly on the progressive movement they believe in.â One former staffer equated it to Stockholm syndrome. The report added that âultimately, most decided to share their accounts because they felt it was vital to spotlight how the progressive leader treats her staff and the Capitol Hill culture that enables that behavior. âJayapal is an effective public advocate for workers, another former staffer said. âShe just doesnât recognize that the staff are also humans.â
Evans and Jayapalâs chief of staff, Lilah Pomerance both supported their boss. In a statement sent to BuzzFeed News, Pomerance said: âWomen of color are often unjustly targeted, regularly held to higher standards than their male colleagues, and always put under a sexist microscope.â
Similarly, Evans said Jayapal is âone of less than 100 women of color to have EVER served in Congress and I canât even begin to imagine this disgustingly sexist rumor about weight and body image being said about the thousands of men who have walked those halls. The Congresswoman is able to serve her 711,000 constituents, lead the progressive caucus, and go to the gym.â
Citing an analysis from Congressional tracking service LegiStorm, the report noted that for the past five years in the House, âJayapal has repeatedly had one of the highest staff turnover rates in Congress, ranking 33rd out of 539 members from 2017 to 2020 â in the 94th percentile. And this year, Jayapal is now in the 96th percentile for turnover,â the report said.
The report cited Jayapalâs office numbers, noting that âof the 16 current full-time members in her personal staff, which does not include caucus staffers who also fall under her supervision, nine started less than one year ago and five have been in the office for more than two years. âIf youâre working for the champion of workers, you would think and hope thatâs not the case,â a former staffer told BuzzFeed News of the turnover.