Some time ago, Jamie Leigh Jones sued her former employer Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR), alleging that a gang-rape occurred at one of the KBR camps and that it had been caused by a hostile work environment. Recently in Houston, she was found by jurors not to have been raped, but to have engaged in consensual sex, reports the Southeast Texas Record.
Ms. Jones could not file a criminal complaint because the alleged crime occurred in Iraq. And for six years, she was also prevented from filing a civil suit because she had signed a mandatory arbitration contract.
The Jamie Leigh Jones rape case is significant for bringing to public light the issue of mandatory arbitration clauses in employment contracts. Such contracts prevent employees from suing their employers in open court and are widely used by American companies.
In fact, Jones was only able to sue KBR, a subsidiary of Halliburton, because of a bill introduced by Senator Al Franken. "No corporation - no matter how powerful, how well-connected, how seemingly impenetrable - should be permitted to rob its workers of their rights," Franken said.
As a result of her legal efforts, Jamie Leigh Jones became a subject of the award-winning HBO documentary -- "Hot Coffee." The film, which documented attempts to limit people's access to courts, was directed by former attorney Susan Saladoff.
In an interview with CNN, Saladoff explained that forced arbitration clauses are equivalent to giving up a constitutional right. She went on to add: "Yet many of these contracts have you 'agree' to resolve any dispute through arbitration - where the company picks the decision maker, pays for the decision maker, the decision maker doesn't have to give a reason for the decision, there is no right to appeal and it is completely secretive."
Senator Franken's bill prevents the government from contracting with companies who force arbitration on employees in rape, assault, harassment, wrongful imprisonment and discrimination claims. Recently, the Department of Defense went ahead and put out a final rule against certain kinds of mandatory arbitration agreements.
So, while Jamie Leigh Jones may have lost her case, she brought change to the legal world. It appears that in its business dealings, parts of the government now recognize that mandatory arbitration agreements cannot be used to limit claims related to sexual assault or harassment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, or suits based on negligent hiring, supervision, or retention.
Read your contract carefully. An employee generally agrees to mandatory arbitration at the time of hiring.
Related Resources:
- Find a Houston employment lawyer (Findlaw)
- Ask an employment law question (Findlaw Answers)
- EEOC and Mandatory Pre-Dispute Arbitration Agreements (University of Pennsylvania)
-
Mandatory Arbitration Agreements Unfairly Deny Employee Rights (FindLaw's KnowledgeBase)
ShareThis
