Chris Lange, FISM News
Congress approved a measure barring forced arbitration to address sexual assault and harassment claims in the workplace. An unlikely coalition of Republican and Democratic lawmakers passed the bill in a voice vote Thursday following its overwhelming approval by the House three days earlier.
The Sexual Crimes Arbitration Bill gives victims of workplace sexual harassment and assault the ability to sue their abusers in state, tribal or federal court, even in cases where a victim signed an employment agreement requiring settlement through closed-door arbitration proceedings – a practice the measure’s advocates say shields perpetrators from full and public accountability for their misconduct.
“The days of sexual harassment and sexual assault cases being buried in unfair arbitration clauses are now over,” tweeted Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who co-sponsored the bill with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) back in 2017.
Graham said businesses will now have to “up their game” in terms of how they handle sexual harassment and assault claims in the workplace during a press conference that followed the vote.
“I’m a limited-government Republican, but there’s a place for the government when it comes to our daily lives,” Graham said, adding that he hoped the bill’s swift passage would serve as a model for future bipartisan work in the Senate. “There’s plenty of things we can do that are meaningful like this,” he said.
“We are giving these workers a new path to justice,” Gillibrand remarked, saying the measure will “help fix a broken system.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) noted that, while Republicans and Democrats disagree on many things, they should not “ignore the genuine chances for progress when both parties agree to move forward on certain topics.”
The White House issued a statement earlier this month indicating that President Biden will sign the bill, adding that he hopes broader legislation eliminating forced arbitration in cases involving racial discrimination and other workplace disputes will be forthcoming.
Not all Republicans supported the bill, including Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who argued that arbitration serves as “a welcomed alternative to the rigors and trauma of litigation.”
“These lawsuits are an ordeal for victims, who in a normal case, must undergo discovery, get depositions made, and may even need to give public testimony,” Jordan said on the House floor. “The rules of litigation may make it much harder for victims to tell their stories in their own words and get the relief they deserve.”
The bill’s passage provides what some view as a much-needed win for Democratic lawmakers ahead of November’s midterm elections following a series of legislative failures on their key domestic agenda items.
The Biden administration’s signature Build Back Better package remains on life support in the Senate as Democrats take a scalpel to portions of the social spending package with the hope of enticing party holdouts Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) back to the table.