House Passes Bill To Extend Recent Prohibition On Arbitration Of Sexual Harassment. While the 50-50 partisan split in the Senate has caused an uneven legislative road since the onset of the Biden Administration, legislation is actually moving through Congress at a clip not seen in quite some time. Indeed, as we noted here, and Seyfarth summarized here, President Biden recently signed H.R. 4445, into law, which in a nutshell permits persons alleging sexual assault or harassment to do so in court, even if the aggrieved person signed a predispute agreement to arbitrate all claims. In a follow-up piece, we questioned whether the recent arbitration prohibition for sexual harassment claims would be extended to other kinds of claims, such as discrimination based on race or age.
Well, as Seyfarth noted here, the House of Representatives recently passed H.R. 963 AKA the Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal Act of 2022 AKA the FAIR Act of 2022, which answers the above in the affirmative. This bill would extend the prohibition of forced arbitration to certain consumer and antitrust claims, as well as employment claims, including wage-hour and discrimination claims. The measure would also preclude employers from maintaining class and collective action waivers.
H.R. 963 does not enjoy the same bipartisan support that HR 4445 did, so its fate in the Senate is not clear. Moreover, the bill passed in the House along a party-line vote -- not a great signal for its likelihood of...
Indian-origin urologist Jitesh Patel will have to pay $14 million to settle allegations against him that he defrauded healthcare programs by performing unnecessary procedures on his patients. An e...