Congress Examines Forced Sexual Harrassment Arbitrations

At the risk of beating the drum too long — 2 of my last 3 posts have been on this topic — it’s worthy to note that, yesterday, Congress held a hearing on the topic of forced arbitrations & nondisclosure agreements in cases involving sexual harassment in the workplace.

The biggest news story that came out of the hearings was the testimony by actress Eliza Dushku (True Lies, Bye Bye Love, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, etc.) who was fired from her role in the CBS TV show Bull after complaining about how she was being treated. She testified that she was routinely sexually harassed on the set, primarily by the star of the show, Michael Weatherly. “Weatherly said he would, ‘Take me to his rape van and use lube and long phallic things on me, and take me over his knee and spank me like a little girl.’ Another time, he told her his ‘sperm were powerful swimmers.’

"‘I was shocked to learn that I signed away my rights to a public forum before taking a job,’ she said. ‘Who would ever think up such a clause? Who were these clauses meant to favor and protect? It suddenly became very clear: Not me.’

“Dushku said that while there was even video surfaced of the harassment ‘captured verbatim on the tapes,’ it's all under lock and key due to the arbitration clause.”

That Congress is now taking testimony like Dushku’s indicates that topic has gained a lot of momentum and may be gaining more. As a business owner, it would be wise to evaluate your contracts and policies, as well as take serious assessment of your potential risk exposure.

To read more, click here.

To watch the Congressional hearing, click here. While the hearing is about 4 hours long, it is worth watching/listening to, even if you do so while attending to other matters.