PHOENIX — Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich has joined a coalition of 56 states and territories urging Congress to help protect employees from sexual harassment by ending forced arbitration agreements.
The coalition hopes to end arbitration agreements that mandate that sexual harassment allegations be resolved through private arbitration rather than through the judicial process. The coalition says the current process protects "serial violators" and gives inadequate relief to victims.
“If we truly want to stop sexual harassment in the workplace, we need to eliminate forced arbitration, which silences victims and shrouds sexual harassment claims and settlements in secrecy,” Brnovich said in a news release. “Access to the judicial system is a fundamental right of all Americans and victims of sexual harassment have a right to their day in court."
“Congress has both opportunity and cause to champion the rights of victims of sexual harassment in the workplace by enacting legislation to free them from the injustice of forced arbitration and secrecy when it comes to seeking redress from egregious misconduct condemned by all concerned Americans,” the coalition said in its letter to federal lawmakers.
The group is asking Congress to pass legislation that will ensure sexual harassment victims have their day in court, according to the Arizona Attorney General's Office.