On February 10, 2022, the Senate passed the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021 (S. 2342). The bill gives survivors of sexual harassment or assault the chance to have their case heard in a court of law, rather than being forced into arbitration, away from public view. Employment rights attorneys have worked for over a decade to end forced arbitration in the workplace.

While employees should celebrate this victory, this is not the end of the work that needs to be done on this issue. No worker, whether their claim relates to sexual harassment, stolen wages, or illegal discrimination based on race, disability, LGBTQ+ status, gender, or other reasons, should be denied the right to pursue justice in a court of law. I encourage everyone to contact their senators and congressperson to encourage the House and Senate to pass the Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal Act (FAIR Act S. 505 /H.R. 963), which would broadly prohibit forced arbitration of workplace and consumer disputes.

Chris McKinney is a San Antonio employment lawyer, who represents employees in cases involving sexual harassment, race discrimination, sex discrimination, age discrimination, disability discrimination, and health care whistleblower cases.