Mandatory arbitration is prevalent in corporate America. According to the Economic Policy Institute, more than half of nonunion private sector employers require workers to sign away their right to sue over employment discrimination or sexual harassment, and nearly two-thirds of companies with 1,000 or more employees have mandatory arbitration policies, meaning “60.1 million American workers no longer have access to the courts to protect their legal employment rights and instead must go to arbitration.”
On the heels of success with shareholder proposals requiring more disclosure of diversity data and practices, activists scored a big win when Goldman Sachs reversed course and agreed to publish a report on the impact of mandatory arbitration on employees and workplace culture.
Using Force The Issue’s database of arbitration policies for sexual harassment claims at over 3,500 public companies, today we visualize practices based on companies of different sizes.
Additional Reads
- The huge diversity issue hiding in companies’ forced arbitration agreements (CNBC)
- U.S. top court backs companies over worker class-action claims (Reuters)
- Why Companies Now Want Harassment Out in the Light (Washington Post)
- As More Companies Demand Arbitration Agreements, Sexual Harassment Claims Fizzle (Wall Street Journal)
- Amazon Faced 75,000 Arbitration Demands. Now It Says: Fine, Sue Us (Wall Street Journal)
- Most Americans Can Be Fired for No Reason at Any Time, But a New Law in New York Could Change That (Bloomberg Businessweek)
- FAIR Act is being revived in Washington, raising hopes for end to forced arbitration (MarketWatch)
- Meet the Four Harvard Law Grads Taking on the Entire Legal System (NY Times)