The President of America’s Largest Federal Employee Union Steps Down Due to Sexual Harassment Charges

J. David Cox, the National President of the American Federation of Government Employees, had been accused of making unwanted advances and sexually harassing union employees repeatedly in 2019. He was forced to resign after new charges came against him this month.
He has been on leave ever since the Bloomberg Law wrote a list of allegations pending against him back in October. Working IDEAL has been engaged by the AFGE for independently investigating the workforce culture and claims against him in the union. The investigation is being headed by Jenny Yang, the former Chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
The union agreed to Cox’s resignation and stated that it would no longer process the initial allegations that were levied against him. Cox has also given up all his rights to run for or hold any union position ‘in perpetuity’. The AFGE stated that it would be processing out recent allegations made against Cox. The investigation will also continue without any impediments, it stated.
AFGE released a statement that this resignation didn’t affect the current investigation into these allegations. AFGE’s decision to process all the charges filed in February and other future charges against him were also unaffected, said the union.
The union did not respond for comment concerning the new allegations. However, Bloomberg Law said on Friday that one union member had started internal charges against him, accusing Cox of having sexually abused the member’s son for many years. Her son has been one of Mr. Cox’s drivers.
Brett Copeland, an ex-AFGE employee, was among the first to reveal Cox’s misconduct. He stated that this resignation would give victims the comfort they needed to heal themselves. However, he also stated that given the large number of people coming forward against him – over a dozen members as of now – it was time to take more action against Cox for his misconduct.
Copeland stated that this process would be a long, ongoing battle against Cox. He was currently waiting to discover more about the investigation lead by Working IDEAL. He added that he wouldn’t be satisfied unless he was assured that no other member would be subject to sexual harassment at the hands of people like Cox. He stated that while he loved and respected the union deeply, it was obvious that there was a major management issue prevalent throughout the union management. He added that it was quite disappointing that many people had been subject to similar experiences in the union.

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