Time’s Up Now

Despite the group’s claims to support victims of sexual assault, Time’s Up Now has close ties to former Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY), who resigned from office in 2021 after the state attorney general released a report extensively detailing allegations of sexual misconduct against him. Time’s Up Now responded to the investigation and state legislative impeachment investigations by calling for an “independent investigation” into sexual harassment claims against Cuomo, ^{4 5} has been said to have a “cozy relationship with the governor,” ⁶  and has paid legal fees to the same law firm representing Cuomo in his sexual misconduct allegations, in the amount of $454,000 in 2019 ⁷ and $719,000 in 2018. ^{8 4 9}

Former Obama Administration official ¹⁰ and Time’s Up Foundation president and CEO ¹¹ Tina Tchen is president and CEO of Time’s Up Now. ¹² Tchen faced criticism for allegedly advising Cuomo on mounting an offensive public relations campaign against women making sexual harassment allegations against him. ¹³

History and Leadership

Time’s Up Now was founded in 2018. ¹⁴ Democratic attorney and former Obama administration official Tina Tchen is the president and CEO of Time’s Up Now. ¹¹ She is also president and CEO of the left-of-center Time’s Up Foundation and a co-founder of Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund. ¹¹

Tchen served in several roles in the Obama Administration including Assistant to the President, Executive Director for the Council on Women and Girls, Chief of Staff to First Lady Michelle Obama, and Director of the Office of Public Engagement. ¹⁰ She co-chairs the left-of-center United State of Women, ¹⁰ which she launched with fellow Obama Administration official Valerie Jarrett at the White House in 2016. ¹⁵

Tchen has said Time’s Up “has always been an organization of wealthy and powerful people,” ⁶ allegedly advised disgraced Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) on mounting an offensive public relations campaign against accusations of harassment against him, ¹³ and called U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s record “disqualifying.” ¹⁶

Activities

Time’s Up Now is the advocacy wing of the left-of-center women’s advocacy and anti-sexual harassment Time’s Up Foundation. Time’s Up Now calls for a “cultural transformation” ³ to install critical race theory-inspired equity, safety, and dignity as the standard for workplaces across the United States. ³

Time’s Up Now’s policy objectives include challenging the “status quo” and “rebuilding systems” ¹⁷ on sexual harassment ¹⁷ by advocating for policies that extend the statute of limitations in rape cases, ¹ simplify the process for people to sue former employers for sexual harassment ² and remove perceived barriers to women in public policy, corporate practice and the national culture. ¹⁷ The organization’s policy solutions focus on safety in the workplace, critical race theory-inspired equity, and increasing the role of women in the workplace. ¹⁸

To realize “true equality,” Time’s Up Now supports enacting new laws and strengthening existing laws on pay transparency, equal pay for workers (including farmworkers, domestic workers, and contractors), an expansion of paid family leave and childcare, and protection of pregnant workers from discrimination. ¹⁹

State-Level Activities

Time’s Up Now focuses its state-level activism on issues including banning salary history questions, increasing pay transparency, extending the statute of limitations on rape, restricting nondisclosure agreements as a term of their employment or as a part of a settlement, ²⁰ and eliminating forced arbitration agreements in contracts. ²¹

In New York, ²² Time’s Up Now advocated issues including eliminating the “severe and pervasive” standard of sexual harassment, extending statutes of limitations, ²³ simplifying the process for workers to sue their employers for sexual harassment, ²⁴ and advocating for increased wages for women. ²⁴

In California, ²⁵ they have partnered with California First Partner’s Office and the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls to launch the “#EqualPayCA” initiative. The group also created a database of television commentators who are women, “gender nonconforming,” and people of color to “broaden viewpoints on television.” ²⁶

Controversy

Despite the group’s claims to support victims of sexual assault, in 2019 Time’s Up Now paid $454,000 in legal fees to Arnold & Porter, the same law firm representing Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY)’s office in sexual misconduct allegations. This came after Time’s Up Now paid the same firm $719,000 in legal fees in 2018. ^{4 9}

Time’s Up Now called for an “independent investigation” into sexual harassment claims against Cuomo, and media outlets have said “their leadership has a cozy relationship with the governor.” ⁶

Political Activities

Prior to the 2020 presidential election, Time’s Up Now partnered with Fortune magazine to create and send candidate questionnaires regarding “gender equity” and working families to 2020 presidential candidates in both the Republican and Democratic parties. ²⁷

Despite its status as a nonpartisan organization, Time’s Up Now has participated in a round table hosted by Vice President Kamala Harris, ²⁸ issued press releases in support of numerous Biden Administration policies, ^{29 30 31 32} and praised the Democratic National Committee’s decision to require women and minorities sit at the moderator table for all debates during the 2020 presidential election cycle. ³³

In November 2020, Time’s Up Now released an advertisement entitled “We Have Her Back” in support of then-Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, preemptively fighting “any misogyny she might face. ³⁴ This advertisement also signaled support for female members of Congress, with an emphasis on notable Democrats. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris (D-CA), Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), failed gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams (D-GA), Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), then-Rep. Debra Haaland (D-MN), Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and others appeared in the advertisement. ³⁴

Time’s Up Now was vocal in its opposition to the nomination and confirmation of Supreme Court Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, calling the actions of the Republican-controlled Senate to confirm her “undemocratic and reckless.” ³⁵ The group claimed Barrett has a “record of defending abusers and abusive institutions,” “defended overt racial discrimination in the workplace,” and threatens the rights of LGBT people. ³⁵

Private-Sector Activism

Time’s Up Now’s partnerships include working with the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team Players Association, which has supported the left-wing Black Lives Matter movement, ³⁶ to start the “Who’s in the Room” mentorship program and mobilize communities in support of “pay equity.” ³

Time’s Up Now has been active in the corporate world, calling for Alphabet, Google’s parent company, to release information about a perceived gender pay gap at an annual shareholder meeting, signing a letter demanding McDonald’s end harassment and retaliation at their restaurants, and alleging Nike engages in “pregnancy discrimination.” ³⁷

Grantmaking and Partnerships

In 2019, Time’s Up Now sent a $19,342 grant to the left-of-center National Women’s Law Center and entered a memorandum of understanding with the group. ³⁸ This follows a $179,426 grant from Time’s Up Now to the group in 2018. ⁸

Funding

Time’s Up Now is a related organization of the left-of-center Time’s Up Foundation. ³⁹ The foundation paid $3,488,255 of Time’s Up Now’s organizational expenses in 2019. That same year, Time’s Up Now received $1,665,421 in contributions and grants, ⁷ down from the $3,321,427 the group received in 2018. ⁴⁰

Time’s Up Now’s expenses in 2019 included $282,937 in support of “private sector change work” and “culture change work,” of which $24,022 worth of spending was in support of the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund, which is operated by the left-of-center National Women’s Law Center Fund. ³⁸

Associated Organizations

In 2018, Time’s Up Now launched Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund, which is supported by the Times Up Foundation and housed and administered by the National Women’s Law Center. ⁴¹

Time’s Up Foundation is a left-of-center women’s advocacy and anti-sexual-harassment 501(c)(3) organization ^{42 43} directly associated with Time’s Up Now. ^{43 44}