The U.S. Senate has passed legislation prohibiting contracts that require individuals to resolve sexual assault or harassment claims through arbitration rather than in court.
The bipartisan bill is being sent to U.S. President Joe Biden with the primary goal of ending a secretive practice that is frequently used to shield perpetrators from full and public accountability. It is expected to be signed into law by Biden.
The legislation, dubbed the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act, is directed against "forced arbitration," a practice favored by Republicans on the Supreme Court.
Forced arbitration enables businesses to avoid lawsuits - and to divert legal disputes to a privatized arbitration system overwhelmingly favored by corporate parties.
Notably, the bill is retroactive, nullifying that language in contracts across the country and allowing those who were bound by it to pursue legal action.
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who led the effort, described it as "one of the most consequential workplace reforms in American history."
The bill comes after the House passed it 335 to 97, demonstrating rare bipartisan agreement in Congress in the aftermath of the #MeToo movement, which sparked a national reckoning over how sexual misconduct claims are handled in the United States.
The bill's swift passage was also the latest sign of Democratic leaders in Congress recalibrating their approach in the aftermath of a series of legislative failures on central elements of their domestic agenda to focus on narrower issues that garner bipartisan support.
Plaintiffs alleging sexual assault or harassment now have the option of having their dispute resolved in a real court, even if they previously signed a mandatory arbitration agreement.
Employers, banks, nursing homes, and a variety of other businesses require their employees, customers, and patients to sign contracts that include a provision requiring forced arbitration.
If a legal dispute arises between a business and its employees or customers, the dispute will not be resolved in a real court.
Rather than that, the case will be decided by a private arbitrator - frequently one chosen by the company that drafted the forced arbitration provision -- and most often with a biased result.
Gillibrand, who has devoted her career to combating sexual harassment and sexual misconduct in the military, introduced the bill in 2017 alongside Sen. Lindsey Graham.
Meanwhile, around 60 million American workers' employment contracts contain clauses requiring them to resolve any allegations of sexual misconduct through private arbitration rather than in court.
