Hawley joins coalition urging Congress to protect employees from sexual harassment
Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley joined a bipartisan coalition of 56 states and territories urging Congress to end secret, forced arbitration in cases of workplace sexual harassment.
Hawley said employees are typically required to sign employment contracts containing arbitration agreements mandating that sexual harassment claims be resolved through private arbitration instead of the judicial process.
By not going through the judicial process, the proceedings could protect serial violators and provide inadequate relief to victims.
“A transparent government is a key tenant of democracy,” Hawley said. “Allowing our elected representatives to settle harassment claims in secret perpetuates bad behavior–and prevents constituents from knowing the true nature of their elected officials. We, as a nation, must do better to protect victims of sexual harassment and part of this is allowing them access to the judicial system in lieu of forced arbitration.”
The attorneys general letter 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 cosponsored by Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein.
