The Senate passed a bill on Thursday that would prevent employers from forcing workers to settle sexual harassment claims in closed-door arbitration hearings, a practice often used to shield bad actors from public scrutiny.
The legislation passed the Senate with a unanimous voice vote. It had cleared the House, 335-97, earlier this week and is expected to be signed into law by President Joe Biden in short order.
The Washington Post reports:
The bill would nullify agreements between employees and their employers in which the employees waive their rights — sometimes without realizing it — to sue in the case of sexual assault or harassment. Instead, the agreements require the employees to settle their disputes with an arbitrator.
Such forced arbitration clauses lead to “secretive, one-sided proceedings that let corporations hide misconduct and silence survivors,” said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), who first introduced the bill with Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) in 2017.
“In addition to ending the practice, the legislation will also invalidate existing forced arbitration clauses that prevent sexual assault and sexual harassment survivors from seeking justice and public accountability under the laws meant to protect them,” Gillibrand said in a statement Thursday.
“This is among the largest workplace reforms, certainly in our lifetimes,” Gillibrand told reporters on Thursday.
NBC News adds:
The legislation’s ban on forced arbitration would kick in immediately, and apply retroactively to previous resolved claims unless a case is pending. It also applies to consumers who approve terms of agreement in exchange for using products, such as ride sharing services.
“From employment paperwork and lease agreements to the terms and conditions for apps and services, the majority of Americans have unknowingly signed their rights away,” Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Ill., a co-sponsor of the House-passed bill, said in a statement. “Nullifying these ‘forced arbitration’ clauses for sexual assault and harassment claims will let survivors’ voices be heard.”
Gillibrand said forced arbitration clauses disproportionately impact women of color in low-wage fields.
“These clauses leave those women who cannot afford to challenge their employers without any recourse,” Gillibrand said. “Survivors deserve a real chance at justice.”
CNN provides more details:
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, in a passionate speech on the Senate floor on Wednesday, said that this important change is “long overdue.”
“Today, we can no longer ignore that forced arbitration has proven immensely harmful when it comes to sexual harassment and sexual assault,” the New York Democrat said. “When workers, almost always women, face abuse or harassment at the hands of their employers, forced arbitration immediately limits their options for remedy. The deck is stacked against them from the start, and thus abusers rarely face true accountability.”
The Post adds:
The #MeToo movement helped spur momentum and bipartisan support for the bill, after more victims spoke out about how they could not sue perpetrators because they had signed such clauses.
Former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson, who has been a key proponent of the bill, said she was shocked to learn that her employment contract included a forced arbitration clause. Her lawyers initially said the clause meant she could not sue then-Fox News CEO Roger Ailes, whom she accused of sexual harassment.
“I’m doing this for all women and men out there who face these kind of inequities in the workplace, and together we can accomplish this,” Carlson said in a video Monday celebrating House passage of the bill.
