As power inequities enabling sexual misconduct continue to grow in public awareness, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office has formed a dedicated unit aimed at serving survivors of workplace-related sexual violence and investigating their reports.

The Work-Related Sexual Violence Team will be headed up by Assistant District Attorney Vanessa Puzio, who has 12 years of experience investigating and prosecuting sexual assault cases, and will consist of 15 attorneys and a social worker, according to a news release from the Manhattan DA's Office.

“It is important that survivors know that we are more than a faceless telephone number at a government office downtown,” Puzio said in the release.

The new unit will work in close collaboration with the New York City Police Department's Special Victims Division, the release states.

“When an act of work-related sexual misconduct constitutes a crime, it is not enough that the abuser loses his job or his industry cachet—justice demands, and survivors deserve, that criminal abusers be held accountable in court,” said Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. in the release.

The release also states that Vance's assistants will receive training in forensic experiential trauma interview techniques, which are designed to minimize the use of questions that could lead survivors to relive their assaults.

Vance has touted his office's work on behalf of victims of sexual abuse, including a recent $38 million investment of forfeiture funds seized by his office to fund a grant program for state and local law enforcement agencies to clear backlogs of rape kits collected for sexual assault investigations.

But Vance recently weathered criticism for his office's decision in 2015 not to pursue charges against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein for alleged sexual misconduct involving Italian model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, who wore a wire as part of an NYPD sting that picked up audio of Weinstein pressuring Gutierrez to enter his hotel room.