The Arbitration Fairness Act of 2011 is a proposed law in the
US Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...
to reverse the effects of ''
14 Penn Plaza LLC v. Pyett'' and ''
AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion''. Both judgments held, 5 judges to 4 dissenting justices, that employees and consumers were not entitled to claim for rights in public courts if they had agreed to arbitration in a collective or individual agreement. The result has been negation of statutory rights by contract.
Background
The Bill was introduced in May 2011 by Senators
Richard Blumenthal
Richard Blumenthal ( ; born February 13, 1946) is an American politician, lawyer, and United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps veteran serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from ...
(D-CT),
Al Franken
Alan Stuart Franken (born May 21, 1951) is an American politician, comedian, and actor who served from 2009 to 2018 as a United States senator from Minnesota. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he worked as an ...
(D-MN) and 11 Senate co-sponsors. A companion bill was introduced in the House of Representative
[H.R. 1873] by
Representative Henry “Hank” Johnson -GA The bill, first introduced to Congress in 2007, leaves arbitration provisions in collective bargaining agreements between employers and labor unions unaffected “except that no such arbitration provision shall have the effect of waiving the right of an employee to seek judicial enforcement of a
ederal or state law, or federal or state Constitutionalright or related public policy.
The bill would also bar the enforcement of mandatory arbitration clauses between corporations and consumers or non-union employees.
The bill‘s “findings” section states that:
[Arbitration Fairness Act, Section 2]*Most consumers and employees have little or no meaningful choice whether to submit their claims to arbitration.
::*Mandatory arbitration undermines the development of public law because there is inadequate transparency and inadequate judicial review of arbitrators’ decisions.
::*Arbitration can be an acceptable alternative when consent to the arbitration is truly voluntary, and occurs after the dispute arises.
The House Judiciary Committee referred the bill to the Subcommittee on Courts, Commercial and Administrative Law on June 1, 2011.
The Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings on the Arbitration Fairness Act on October 13, 2011.
See also
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US labor law
United States labor law sets the rights and duties for employees, labor unions, and employers in the US. Labor law's basic aim is to remedy the " inequality of bargaining power" between employees and employers, especially employers "organized in ...
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US consumer law
Notes
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References
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United States labor law