A landmark bill barring forced arbitration in cases having to do with sexual harassment and assault passed by a voice vote.
A landmark bill barring forced arbitration in cases having to do with sexual harassment and assault received Senate clearance Thursday.
It passed through a voice vote, H.R. 4445 had already received a bipartisan majority of 335-97 in the House of Representatives and now heads to President Joe Biden’s desk for a final signature.
What Is H.R. 4445?
Known also as the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act, the bill largely affects employers who could previously draft contracts that required workers to forgo court proceedings in favor of in-house arbitration in instances of alleged sexual misconduct.
Before the growing outcry agains these types of clauses, examples like ride-share companies and universities had been known to include them in various contracts, as well as most large, publicly listed corporations.
According to the bill’s sponsors, 60 million Americans still have such provisions in their work contracts.
“It will help us fix a broken system that protects predators and corporations and will help to end the days of silencing survivors,” Senator and bill co-sponsor Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) told CNN.
How Did This Come About?
Concern over mandatory arbitration clauses first started getting attention when, in 2017, high-profile celebrities started speaking out against sexual assault and set off the #MeToo movement.
As stories of different types of abuse in industries from entertainment to politics started going viral, many women spoke out about how they were unable to go to court due to mandatory arbitration clauses in their contracts.
The bill was first introduced in 2017 but stalled over the next four years. There are different versions of why it was finally pushed forward now but, for the most part, it has bipartisan support. That, on its own, is a major milestone for the #MeToo movement.
“The arbitration system is fairly skewed toward the company, and to take a job I don’t think you should be required to give up your day in court if you claim something untoward happened to you,” bill co-sponsor Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) told CNN.
What Does This Mean For You?
One naysayer was the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which said that arbitration “provides a fair, effective, and less expensive means of resolving disputes compared to going to court” in a November 2021 letter to members of the Senate.
While the bill still needs to be passed into law, it will profoundly overhaul the realm of work and employment contracts — such provisions in any current contracts will become void and allow alleged victims to take their cases to court.
