WASHINGTON – Today, the House of Representatives introduced the Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal (FAIR) Act which eliminates forced arbitration in employment, consumer, antitrust, and civil rights disputes. Under current law, employers are allowed to require workers to sign arbitration agreements to resolve workplace disputes. In doing so, workers sign away their right to bring their employer to court when they experience unsafe working conditions, wage theft, or sexual harassment on the job. Instead, workers must resolve the dispute in a closed-door process that favors the employer. As of 2017, 56.2% of private-sector nonunion workers were subjected to forced arbitration agreements and an EPI and Center on Popular Democracy analysis projects that by 2024, that share will rise to more than 80%. The FAIR Act is a crucial step toward ending the growing practice of forced arbitration. Congress must pass this critical piece of legislation to ensure workers are able to enforce their rights and are not barred from bringing their employer to court.
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
