Published: February 2018

Protect employees by ending forced arbitration in the workplace

Consumer Action joined advocates in calling on the leaders of the tech industry’s biggest companies, including Apple, Google and Facebook, to remove forced arbitration provisions in employee contracts and take the first steps toward creating a harassment- and discrimination-free environment. While forced arbitration provisions are now common in many types of consumer contracts, forcing an employee into arbitration is equally harmful because of its ability to silence systemic wrongdoing in the workplace.

Recent revelations of sexual harassment across industries have shone a light on how forced arbitration provisions silence complaints of workplace misconduct and abuse. Arbitration clauses, which are often a condition of employment, affect an estimated 60 million Americans. Eliminating these clauses would aid victims by pulling back the veil of secrecy on bad behavior in the workplace. As a result, advocates are calling on leaders of giant tech companies, like Google, Amazon, Apple and Facebook, to end the use of forced arbitration provisions in their employee contracts.

 

 

Lead Organization

Public Citizen

Other Organizations

American Civil Liberties Union | Communications Workers of America (CWA) | Consumer Action | Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety | Economic Policy Institute | The Employee Rights Advocacy Institute For Law & Policy | Equal Pay Today | Equal Rights Advocates | Gender Justice | Homeowners Against Deficient Dwellings | Impact Fund | Interfaith Worker Justice | Legal Aid at Work | NAACP | National Association of Consumer Advocates | National Center for Transgender Equality | National Consumer Law Center | National Employment Lawyers Association | National Employment Law Project | National Equality Action Team (NEAT) | National LGBTQ Task Force | Oxfam America | Progressive Congress Action Fund | Public Citizen | Public Knowledge | Public Justice | State Innovation Exchange | Union Theological Seminary | Witness to Mass Incarceration | Women Employed | Women’s Law Project

More Information

For more information, please visit Public Citizen's website.

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Protect employees by ending forced arbitration in the workplace   (EmploymentArbSignOnGoogle.pdf)