[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2435 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2435

 To amend title 9 of the United States Code to exclude all employment 
 contracts from the arbitration provisions of chapter 1 of such title; 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 1, 2002

  Mr. Kennedy (for himself and Mr. Feingold) introduced the following 
  bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, 
                     Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 9 of the United States Code to exclude all employment 
 contracts from the arbitration provisions of chapter 1 of such title; 
                        and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Preservation of Civil Rights 
Protections Act of 2002''.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENT TO FEDERAL ARBITRATION ACT.

    Section 1 of title 9, United States Code, is amended by striking 
``of seamen'' and all that follows through ``commerce''.

SEC. 3. UNENFORCEABILITY OF ARBITRATION CLAUSES IN EMPLOYMENT 
              CONTRACTS.

    (a) Protection of Employee Rights.--Notwithstanding any other 
provision of law, any clause of any agreement between an employer and 
an employee that requires arbitration of a dispute arising under the 
Constitution or laws of the United States shall not be enforceable.
    (b) Exceptions.--
            (1) Waiver or consent after dispute arises.--Subsection (a) 
        shall not apply with respect to any dispute if, after such 
        dispute arises, the parties involved knowingly and voluntarily 
        consent to submit such dispute to arbitration.
            (2) Collective bargaining agreements.--Subsection (a) shall 
        not preclude an employee or union from enforcing any of the 
        rights or terms of a valid collective bargaining agreement.

SEC. 4. APPLICATION OF AMENDMENTS.

    This Act and the amendment made by section 2 shall apply with 
respect to all employment contracts in force before, on, or after the 
date of the enactment of this Act.
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