Hi, I’m Danny Karon, your Lovable Lawyer here with your quick shot of legal wellness. Remember Gretchen Carlson’s claim a few years ago against Roger Ailes and Fox News for sexual discrimination? Well, she wasn’t able to bring her case in court because of what’s called a forced arbitration clause that was baked into her employment contract.
Just the other day, the House passed a bill 335 to 97 that would ban forced arbitration in sex discrimination and sexual harassment cases. The bill could make it to the Senate as soon as this week.
That’s big news because it could affect as many as 60 million workers. Forced arbitration doesn’t only affect or infect employees, it affects all of us. Forced arbitration is found in all of our consumer contracts – cell phone contracts, credit card contracts, internet service provider contracts. It’s everywhere!
What does forced arbitration mean? It means that when you have a grouse or a gripe or a grievance against your merchant, you can’t bring that case in court. You instead have to go to a secret tribunal where the merchant decides who’s going to hear your case. Most of the time, the data shows that they’re going to rule against it. Why? Because the merchant pays for the arbitrator.
So, maybe the House vote will be the first step toward not just ending forced arbitration for employees but hopefully for the rest of us.
If you’d like to learn more about legal wellness, please join me at yourlovablelawyer.com. Until next time, I’m Danny Karon, your Lovable Lawyer.
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