The New York Times article detailing the accounts of survivors of Harvey Weinstein’s sexual misconduct sparked a wave of revelations and stories from survivors of sexual harassment and abuse in multiple industries throughout the United States. The deluge of stories was dubbed the #MeToo Movement, and it led to a reckoning in American society about how to address claims of sexual misconduct. Five years later, Congress has passed a new piece of federal legislation to address this issue, and President Biden signed it into law on March 3, 2022. The Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021 (the “Act”), colloquially known as the #MeToo law, demonstrates how the cultural shift in attitudes towards survivors of sexual misconduct in the workplace has moved into the legislative sphere. In light of this new law, many employers may be wondering: What does that mean for our current arbitration agreements? What steps do we need to take to make sure we are complying with this new law? Are we saying farewell to arbitrations in the future?
The Act amends the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) by prohibiting mandatory arbitration agreements between employers and employees for both “sexual assault disputes” and “sexual harassment disputes.” These types of binding arbitration agreements were criticized during the #MeToo movement because arbitration proceedings are not usually open to the public. Commentators noted that this feature prevented survivors from...
The Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Gayton McKenzie, has rejected claims that he has withdrawn or rescinded the gazetted renaming of Graaff-Reinet to Robert Sobukwe Town, along with other geo...