In a Bipartisan Move, Congress Targets Forced Arbitration

In a rare bipartisan move last week, Congress passed legislation targeting forced arbitration in sexual assault and harassment cases. For years, employers have used forced arbitration clauses in employment contracts to silence workers. The bill, called The Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act, gives people a choice of going to court to pursue sexual misconduct claims or through arbitration.

One of the issue’s most prominent advocates has been former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson. She’s been working to ban forced arbitration since 2016, when she filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes. A forced arbitration clause prevented her from being able to sue her employer so instead she had to sue Ailes personally

For more on this, The Takeaway spoke with with David Noll, professor of law at Rutgers Law School.