A vendor sells #MeToo badges a protest march for survivors of sexual assault and their supporters. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

(Reuters) - The federal judiciary's policymaking body on Tuesday agreed to administer regular workplace surveys to its 30,000 employees to help identify the extent that sexual harassment, discrimination and other misconduct occurs in courthouses nationally.

The move by the Judicial Conference of the United States followed calls by lawmakers and court reform advocates for the judiciary to do more to protect its employees following allegations of sexual harassment and other misconduct by some judges.

While several circuits and individual courts have conducted their own surveys to assess their workplace climates, the one approved by the Judicial Conference would be the first to be conducted uniformly across the federal judiciary.

Such a survey was recommended in March by a working group that was established in 2018 at U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts' request after harassment allegations emerged against some judges following the rise of the #MeToo movement.

U.S. District Judge Claire Eagan, the outgoing chair of the Judicial Conference's executive committee, told reporters after its semi-annual closed-door meeting in Washington, D.C., that the survey would detail "the prevalence of certain kinds of conduct."

Employees, managers and judges will be asked about their overall workplace environment, the courts' commitment to diversity, any...

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