Franken Amendment Enacted Into Law

The National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA) announced on January 14, 2010 that Congress, at the end of its last session, enacted the “Jamie Leigh Jones Amendment” (also known as the Franken Amendment in section 8116 of the Defense Appropriations Act for 2010).  Signed by President Obama on December 19, 2009, the Franken Amendment is the first federal legislation that prevents employers from forcing pre-dispute, binding arbitration on their employees.  The Franken Amendment prohibits the award of Department of Defense contracts of over one million dollars to any company that forces its employees or independent contractors to submit to pre-dispute binding arbitration of Title VII and sexual assault related tort claims (with certain exemptions).

According to NELA, the Franken Amendment will protect hundreds of thousands of employees around the country from being forced to arbitrate their Title VII claims; it is estimated that 80% of defense contractors exceed the Amendment’s one million dollar threshold.  NELA reports that a list of the 2009 top 100 defense contractors can be found at http://washingtontechnology.com/toplists/top-100-lists/2009.aspx .  Also, more information can be found at http://www.governmentcontractorswon.com/default.asp .   Further in this regard, NELA states that the Amendment provides a major new legal tool for employees to use to strike down forced arbitration clauses imposed by their employers who are federal defense contractors or subcontractors, and sets an important prcedent for efforts to eliminate forced arbitration in other employment and consumer contexts.

The list of covered sexual assault-related tort claims is reportedly quite extensive, encompassing “any tort related to or arising out of sexual assault or harassment, including assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment, or negligent hiring, supervision or retention.” 

Importantly, employees protected by the Franken Amendment can invoke it to defeat motions to compel forced arbitration.  Further information about NELA’s comments on the Amendment may be located at www.nela.org .  For its own part, NELA advances employee rights and serves lawyers who advocate for equality and justice in the American workplace.