On the recordFebruary 7, 2022
I thank the chairman for yielding. Madam Speaker, sexual harassment and violence in the workplace are a corrosive and pervasive threat to the success and dignity of all workers, but particularly women. And forced or mandatory arbitration clauses in employment contracts have played an important role in thwarting efforts to hold accountable the predators who engage in such conduct and the companies that allow it to continue. The widespread use of these clauses in employment contracts forces many Americans to agree to a form of dispute resolution that silences victims of sexual harassment and assault and allows the harassers and employers to escape accountability. These arbitration proceedings overwhelmingly benefit the employer, which drafts the nonnegotiable clauses dictating the venue, the terms of mediation, even the arbitrators themselves, as well as creating a perverse incentive for the allegedly neutral arbiters to rule in favor of employers, lest they not be hired again. In addition to denying survivors a public forum to expose sexual abuse, which can deter future misconduct, these arbitration clauses also preclude class actions, which is often the only way that employees can afford to bring successful claims. H.R. 4445 would ban the use of forced arbitration in employment contracts in cases of sexual assault and harassment. In addition to protecting survivors of such harassment, that is just good public policy.
