Prohibits the state from entering into certain contracts with companies requiring employees to stipulate to binding arbitration for all disputes

2 Co-sponsors

• Liz Krueger
• John L. Sampson

Title of bill

An act to amend the executive law, in relation to prohibiting the state from entering into contracts with companies requiring employees to stipulate to binding arbitration for all disputes

Purpose or general idea of bill

To prohibit the state from entering into contracts, or renewing contracts, with certain companies requiring employees to agree to binding arbitration contracts for all disputes, including but not limited to, sexual assaults.

Summary of specific provisions

Section 1 amends the executive law by adding a new section 170-c which would prohibit the state from entering into contracts, or renewing contracts, with certain companies requiring employees to agree to binding arbitration contracts for all disputes, including but not limited to, sexual assaults.

Justification

Many companies require workers to sign binding arbitration agreements as part of their employment contracts, which require employees to forego their right to seek legal remedies for all disputes with the employer, including those arising from sexual assault and other assaults.

Workers who are sexually assaulted while working for defense contractors overseas typically have few options. They cannot bring charges in the country where the crime was committed, and the binding arbitration clause bars them from using courts in the United States.

In one of the most infamous cases arising from this practice of overseas contractors for defense corporations, Jamie Leigh Jones, a 20-yr-old employee of defense contractor KBR, who was stationed in Iraq, stated she was gang raped by her co-workers and imprisoned in a shipping container when she tried to report the crime. Her father and her congressman fought to secure her safe return to the United States, but once home, Ms. Jones learned a fine-print clause in her KBR contract banned her from taking her case to court, instead forcing her into an "arbitration" process that would be run by KBR itself. Ms. Jones was forced to go to court to sue for the right to get justice, and after several years of litigation, she received a favorable ruling, allowing her to seek justice. She has been pursuing the matter in court since 2005.

In 2008, a number of female employees of overseas defense contractors testified before the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee. According to Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, who cited Defense Department statistics, more than two dozen female contractor employees working in Iraq and Afghanistan have reported being raped or sexually assaulted. (See, "Iraq Rape Claims Push Senate Panel to Act," The Blotter from Brian Ross, ABC News, http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/ story?id=4766673, last visited January 28, 2010.) One of the women testifying, Dawn Leamon, a mother of two active duty military personnel, stated she was drugged and brutally gang-raped by soldiers and coworkers. She said KBR's employee assistance program discouraged her from filing a formal report, saying, "You know what will happen if you do," and failed to protect her from her alleged assailants. (See, "Military Mom Says she was brutally raped in Iraq," The Blotter from Brian Ross, ABC News, http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story ?id=4618275&page=1,last visited January 28, 2010.)

It is time the State of New York took measures to end this abhorrent behavior and help the employees assaulted overseas to gain justice. By barring contractors who require their employees to sign such binding arbitration agreements from contracting with the State of New York, this state will step forward and help protect the employees who are unable to find justice under current law and practice.

Prior legislative history

None.

Fiscal implications

Indeterminate.

Effective date

This act shall take effect immediately.