Sexual Harassment Victims Could Lose Under Tax Law Meant to Help

[DonViejo]

Source: Bloomberg News

By Jeff Green and Sahil Kapur
June 5, 2018, 4:00 AM EDT

* Republicans said to acknowledge need to clarify NDA provision

*Plaintiffs lawyers fear clients may stay silent about abuse

Republicans are considering a fix to a provision in their new tax law that they acknowledge could inadvertently penalize victims of sexual harassment in the workplace.

But congressional gridlock before midterm elections in November means there’s no guarantee that the problem will be corrected quickly, if at all.

President Donald Trump’s tax overhaul eliminates the deduction companies used to be able to take when they settled sexual harassment cases and included non-disclosure agreements, which generally keep details secret as a condition of the payout. A misplaced word by Republican tax writers may mean that victims of accused sexual predators like Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein also lose the ability to deduct their legal expenses.

A senior House Republican aide who works on tax policy acknowledged the provision has unintended outcomes and is being discussed as a so-called technical correction to the tax law. A senior Senate Republican aide said lawmakers are examining the issue. Both aides were granted anonymity to discuss private conversations.

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-05/sexual-harassment-victims-could-lose-under-tax-law-meant-to-help?utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_content=politics&cmpid%3D=socialflow-twitter-politics&utm_medium=social