Press Release

Washington, DC—Today, sexual harassment survivor and former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson joined Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Representatives Cheri Bustos (D-IL), Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), and Walter Jones (R-NC) in unveiling new legislation restoring the rights of sexual harassment survivors to hold their workplace abusers publicly accountable in court.

Over the past year, countless stories about sex discrimination and harassment in workplaces across America have emerged – but survivors are currently forced into a secretive, rigged system controlled by the employer. This bipartisan, bicameral legislation aims to restore workers’ rights by putting an end to the abusive practice of forced arbitration in workplace sex discrimination claims and ensuring every survivor of sexual harassment has a chance to fight for justice in court.

“For too long, corporations have concealed systemic sexual harassment within their ranks by requiring workers to sign away their rights to go to court,” said American Association for Justice (AAJ) CEO Linda Lipsen. “This bipartisan legislation will finally unmask abusers and give survivors of sexual harassment a path to justice and public accountability.”

While workplace sexual harassment violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, corporations have found a way to silence women and cover-up the illegal behavior of abusers – forced arbitration. Forced arbitration provisions in employment contracts and handbooks put workers’ rights at risk by forcing all claims of sexual harassment out of court and into a rigged arbitration process that is shielded from public view. As the number of workers being subject to forced arbitration agreements has more than doubled since 2000, Congress must act to ensure the rights of Americans are restored.

Gretchen Carlson has been a fierce advocate for empowering sexual harassment survivors, traveling the country and lobbying Congress to take swift action in order to stop the systemic abuse of women in the workplace and to restore their rights to access justice.

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The American Association for Justice works to preserve the constitutional right to trial by jury and to make sure people have a fair chance to receive justice through the legal system when they are injured by the negligence or misconduct of others—even when it means taking on the most powerful corporations. Visit http://www.justice.org.