A Colorado Senate committee convened Tuesday and found that a complaint it received falls within the scope of the Legislature’s workplace harassment policy.

That means the alleged behavior is connected to a protected class and could be a violation of the Legislature’s harassment policy. It is not a determination of wrongdoing, but allows an investigation to move forward.

The meeting was the first time the Senate Workplace Harassment Committee has convened since its creation in 2019.

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Democratic Senators Dylan Roberts and Cathy Kipp and Republicans Senators Lisa Frizell and Cleave Simpson serve on the committee, with Roberts as chair and Simpson as vice chair. They heard details about the complaint during an executive session, which is not public, and then voted to direct the Office of Legislative Workplace Relations to gather more relevant information.

The workplace harassment committee meets if someone, such as a lawmaker, staff member, lobbyist or journalist, submits a harassment complaint against a lawmaker or partisan staff member and then requests a formal resolution process, versus an informal resolution that can take various shapes depending on the situation. Information about who is involved in workplace harassment complaints is largely confidential, and the records created about complaints are not subject to public records requests.

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“People who have concerns and people who may have relevant information to provide need to trust that their identities are not going to be inappropriately disclosed,” Ben FitzSimons, the director of the Legislature’s human resources division said. “Similarly, anyone who has been accused of violating the policy needs to trust that they have access to the appropriate amount of due process without being prematurely or publicly judged.”

If the committee ultimately finds that the harassment policy was violated, it can make recommendations to chamber or caucus leaders. If the respondent is a lawmaker and they are found to have violated the policy, the human resources department will make public an executive summary of the committee’s proceedings with the respondent’s name.

The House’s version of the workplace harassment committee has met a handful of times since its creation in 2019 and is scheduled to meet again in July. The workplace harassment process is distinct from the ethics violation process, which is much more open to the public.

The Senate committee will meet again in two weeks.