Attorney General Curtis Hill has joined a bipartisan coalition of 50 states, five territories and the District of Columbia urging Congress to end secret, forced arbitration in cases of workplace sexual harassment. Too often employees are required to sign employment contracts containing arbitration agreements mandating that sexual harassment claims be resolved through private arbitration instead of the judicial process. The secrecy surrounding these proceedings can protect serial violators and provide inadequate relief to victims.
“Our American judicial system stands for the proposition that everyone gets their day in court,” Attorney General Hill said. “Mandating arbitration undermines this fundamental principle.”
The attorneys general letter sent Monday to leaders in the U.S. House of Representative and the U.S. Senate asks Congress to pass appropriately-tailored legislation to ensure that sexual harassment victims have a right to their day in court.
“Congress today has both opportunity and cause to champion the rights of victims of sexual harassment in the workplace by enacting legislation to free them from the injustice of forced arbitration and secrecy when it comes to seeking redress from egregious misconduct condemned by all concerned Americans,†states the letter co-sponsored by Attorney General Hill.
