On Thursday, February 10, 2022, the United States Senate passed H.R. 4445, which will amend the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) to ban all pre-dispute arbitration agreements and class and collective action waivers covering sexual harassment and sexual assault claims. President Biden has already announced that he will sign the bill into law once it reaches his desk.

H.R. 4445’s Requirements

Once signed into law, H.R. 4445 will amend the FAA to prohibit employers from enforcing predispute arbitration agreements and waivers of class and collective actions relating to claims of sexual harassment and sexual assault. H.R. 4445 contains the following key definitions:

• A “sexual assault dispute” is “a dispute involving a nonconsensual sexual act or sexual contact . . . including when the victim lacks capacity to consent.”
• A “sexual harassment dispute” is “a dispute relating to conduct that is alleged to constitute sexual harassment under applicable Federal, Tribal, or State law.”
• A “predispute arbitration agreement” is “any agreement to arbitrate a dispute that had not yet arisen at the time of the making of the agreement.”
• A “predispute joint waiver” is “an agreement, whether or not part of a predispute arbitration agreement, that would prohibit, or waive the right of, one of the parties to the agreement to participate in a joint, class, or collective action in a judicial, arbitral, administrative, or other forum, concerning a dispute that has not yet arisen at the time of the...

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