Standing Up For Justice?
By Elizabeth Hewitt
Monday 2nd November 2009
Monday 2nd November 2009
In 2005, Jamie Leigh Jones was drugged and gang raped by seven of her coworkers while working for the private defense contractor Halliburton/KBR in Baghdad. The 20-year-old American, who had been on the job for only four days, was then placed under guard in a shipping container for more than twenty-four hours after reporting the incident to a supervisor. Crucial evidence from a rape kit administered by a US Army doctor and turned over to KBR officials has gone missing. For four years now, Jones has been prohibited from seeking legal action against her attackers by a clause in her KBR contract stipulating that claims must be settled through secret, binding arbitration. ‘I had no idea that the clause was part of the contract, what the clause actually meant, or that I would eventually end up in this horrible situation,’ Jones told a Senate committee.
A bill proposed by Senator Al Franken and passed through the US Senate on October 6 will prevent the US Government from awarding contracts to corporations which deny employees access to justice. ‘The government shouldn’t be doing business with defense contractors like KBR as long as they continue this practice,’ said Franken. The amendment received bipartisan support, passing the Senate with a vote of 68-30. Former presidential candidate John McCain was among those to oppose the bill. All opposition votes were from male Republicans. The Department of Defense later released a statement that it was against the amendment. It explained that it is in support of the overall intent of the bill, but is concerned with enforceability.
Many of those who did not vote for Franken’s bill objected to government interference in a private contract between a company and its employees. Senator Jeff Sessions, a Republican from Alabama, spoke in opposition to the amendment on the Senate floor, claiming it ‘would impose the will of Congress on private individuals and companies in a retroactive fashion, invalidating employment contracts without due process of law.’ He went on to label Franken’s bill ‘a political attack directed at Halliburton.’
Arbitration is a form of alternative dispute resolution most commonly used for resolving disputes in international commercial transactions, outside of court. When arbitration is mandatory and non-binding, parties waive their right to a judge and jury. KBR maintains arbitration is a fair process: ‘Most large companies have a dispute resolution program which is mandatory and is designed to address employee complaints quickly and efficiently. Under KBR's dispute resolution program 95% of all employee complaints are resolved quickly to the employees' satisfaction without a mediation or an arbitration.’
Senators Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, both from Georgia, claimed to oppose the amendment because it would eliminate arbitration as an option for employer-employee disputes. On the contrary, Franken’s bill does not deny employees access to the process of arbitration or mediation. Employees will still be able to elect to use arbitration, but they will also have a right to a judge and jury. The bill prevents corporations from blocking employees who are victims of rape from taking legal action.
Jones’s case is not an isolated one. Since she went public, several other female employees of corporations with an arbitration clause similar to that of KBR have come forward with reports of sexual harassment and assault, many of which are still unresolved because of arbitration. Jones’s lawyer, Todd Kerry said, ‘I’ve received upwards of 40 calls to my office [about assault cases] in the past two years. A good number had been disposed of under arbitration.’ The outcomes of cases forced into arbitration are unknown because of nondisclosure clauses in the arbitration agreement.
A bill proposed by Senator Al Franken and passed through the US Senate on October 6 will prevent the US Government from awarding contracts to corporations which deny employees access to justice. ‘The government shouldn’t be doing business with defense contractors like KBR as long as they continue this practice,’ said Franken. The amendment received bipartisan support, passing the Senate with a vote of 68-30. Former presidential candidate John McCain was among those to oppose the bill. All opposition votes were from male Republicans. The Department of Defense later released a statement that it was against the amendment. It explained that it is in support of the overall intent of the bill, but is concerned with enforceability.
Many of those who did not vote for Franken’s bill objected to government interference in a private contract between a company and its employees. Senator Jeff Sessions, a Republican from Alabama, spoke in opposition to the amendment on the Senate floor, claiming it ‘would impose the will of Congress on private individuals and companies in a retroactive fashion, invalidating employment contracts without due process of law.’ He went on to label Franken’s bill ‘a political attack directed at Halliburton.’
Arbitration is a form of alternative dispute resolution most commonly used for resolving disputes in international commercial transactions, outside of court. When arbitration is mandatory and non-binding, parties waive their right to a judge and jury. KBR maintains arbitration is a fair process: ‘Most large companies have a dispute resolution program which is mandatory and is designed to address employee complaints quickly and efficiently. Under KBR's dispute resolution program 95% of all employee complaints are resolved quickly to the employees' satisfaction without a mediation or an arbitration.’
Senators Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, both from Georgia, claimed to oppose the amendment because it would eliminate arbitration as an option for employer-employee disputes. On the contrary, Franken’s bill does not deny employees access to the process of arbitration or mediation. Employees will still be able to elect to use arbitration, but they will also have a right to a judge and jury. The bill prevents corporations from blocking employees who are victims of rape from taking legal action.
Jones’s case is not an isolated one. Since she went public, several other female employees of corporations with an arbitration clause similar to that of KBR have come forward with reports of sexual harassment and assault, many of which are still unresolved because of arbitration. Jones’s lawyer, Todd Kerry said, ‘I’ve received upwards of 40 calls to my office [about assault cases] in the past two years. A good number had been disposed of under arbitration.’ The outcomes of cases forced into arbitration are unknown because of nondisclosure clauses in the arbitration agreement.