As we predicted a few weeks ago, there was a good chance that sometime within the near future the U.S. Congress would pass a narrowly drafted bill to prohibit employers from enforcing agreements to arbitrate sexual assault and harassment claims. Late last week it happened, with bipartisan majorities in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate voting to approve H.R. 4445, entitled the “Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021.” The bill now goes to President Biden for his signature.
As discussed in more detail below, H.R 4445 amends the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) to allow an alleged victim of sexual assault or harassment to effectively opt out of any predispute arbitration agreement or predispute joint-action waiver.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.