On the morning the Office of Compliance first opened, there was a ribbon cutting. Some of the sponsors of the bill that established the bureau, now known as the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights, gathered to say a few words.
But they weren’t the first visitors to the brand-new office, created to ensure that legislative branch bosses adhere to the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995, which forced Congress to comply with many federal labor laws for the first time ever. Kevin Mulshine was already busy helping a worker file the office’s first claim when then-Rep. William Goodling arrived for the ceremony.
“We had to move out of the small office where I was meeting with [the employee] confidentially and actually stepped over the seat of Mr. Goodling,” said Mulshine, who was a senior adviser and counsel. “I thought this is quite the scene, where an employee meant to benefit from the procedures and rights granted by the CAA is literally stepping on the shoes of [a] main sponsor.”
