
Ashley Judd speaks onstage during the 'Feminism: A Battlefield Report' session at the 10th Anniversary Women In The World Summit in 2019 in New York City. Photo: Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Time's Up on Friday released a report detailing internal failures at the anti-workplace harassment group that advised former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) on how to respond to harassment allegations.
Driving the news: Most of the 25 remaining employees will be laid off by the end of the year and a staff of three, with four board members, will remain, per the "reset plan."
- "We’re going down to the studs,” Ashley Judd, one of the group’s most visible members, told AP.
- "We’re going to rebuild and reset and come back in a way that honors our mandate, incorporates the voices of our critics, learns from our findings … and holds ourselves accountable but also lives up to our potential."
- Staff who are leaving the organization will receive severance through March 1, 2022, the organization said.
The big picture: The report, which draws on interviews with 85 current and former staff members, comes after the president and CEO of the organization stepped down in August following revelations that the group, formed in 2018, consulted for Cuomo after harassment allegations against the governor surfaced.
- The group hired an independent counsel in the wake of those revelations to investigate the organization, the Washington Post reports.
- Internal confusion about the group's purpose and mission, "fragmented and inconsistent" communication and leaders' failure to focus on long-term goals were among the issues cited.
What they're saying: "This is a needed reset, not a retreat," board chair Gabrielle Sulzberger said in a statement.
- "Time's Up stands for accountability and systematic change in the workplace. It is incumbent on us to learn from these findings, and focus on building an organization that powerfully serves women of all kinds and ends the impunity of sexual harassment and assault in the workplace."
Go deeper: Time's Up CEO resigns amid Cuomo scandal