Panel Created for Bias Cases Against Officials

Eight months after a court cleared one of its members of sexual harassment allegations, the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to set up a special committee to investigate any complaints of harassment and discrimination targeting elected officials and top managers.

Councilman Nate Holden was on vacation and missed the vote. Holden prevailed in a lengthy civil trial last fall after a former receptionist sued, charging that he had lured her to his home and made unwanted sexual advances.

Intended to subject the bureaucracy’s top bosses to the same rules that govern the city’s 48,000 employees, the new ordinance creates a panel of five experts that can be convened at the behest of the mayor or City Council president in response to a discrimination or harassment complaint filed with the city’s personnel department. The panel will consist of a male and female former judge, a male and female law professor and one professional arbitrator.

Before Wednesday’s vote, city policy prohibited harassment by top officials, but lacked a formal mechanism to investigate complaints against them.