[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 30 (Thursday, February 25, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E287]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[[Page E287]]



   INTRODUCTION OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS PROCEDURES PROTECTION ACT OF 1999

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. EDWARD J. MARKEY

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 25, 1999

  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to join today with Representative 
Connie Morella to introduce the Civil Rights Procedures Protection Act 
of 1999. This bill is designed to reassert workers' rights to have 
their claims of unlawful employment discrimination settled by a court 
of law.
  During the last decade, our nation has witnessed a sharp increase in 
the use of binding arbitration as a means of resolving legal claims. In 
particular, the number of employers using arbitration to resolve 
complaints of illegal employment discrimination or sexual harassment in 
the work place has skyrocketed. According to the U.S. General 
Accounting Office, in just two years the number of employers using 
arbitration almost doubled; jumping from 10 percent of employers in 
1995 to 19 percent of employers in 1997. The nation's leading 
association of arbitration professionals, the American Arbitration 
Association, concurred, noting that their caseload of employment 
arbitration disputes more than doubled between the years 1993 and 1996.
  This rise in the use of arbitration has produced largely positive 
results. Voluntary arbitration, when it is administered in an impartial 
manner, can provide employees and employers alike with a fair, fast and 
inexpensive mechanism to resolve disputes. But too many employers have 
taken this potentially impartial judicial forum and tainted it by 
requiring arbitration of all employment discrimination claims.
  As a condition of employment or promotion, a growing number of 
employers are requiring workers to agree to submit any future claims of 
job discrimination to mandatory binding arbitration panels. By forcing 
employees to sign away their fundamental rights to a court hearing, 
employers across the country have succeeded in circumventing our 
nation's civil rights laws. Employees who sign mandatory arbitration 
contracts give up their right to due process, trial by jury, the 
appeals process, full discovery and other ``guaranteed'' rights. In 
essence, mandatory arbitration contracts reduce civil rights 
protections to the status of the company car: a perk which can be 
denied at will.
  The United States Constitution guarantees every citizen ``equal 
justice under law''. Forcing employees to choose between their civil 
rights and their job denies them their right to equal justice.
  Mandatory arbitration of civil rights is wrong even if the 
arbitration process is balanced. But, too often, it has a semblance of 
impartiality. Mandatory arbitration panels are often comprised solely 
of members hand picked by the industry they are supposed to regulate. 
At best such a setting has the appearance of unfairness; at worst, it 
is a tainted forum in which an employee can never be guaranteed a truly 
fair hearing. Like forcing employees to buy goods at the company store, 
the price of such so-called justice is just too high.
  The legislation Mrs. Morella and I are introducing would protect the 
rights of workers to bring claims against their employers in cases of 
employment discrimination. By amending seven Federal civil rights 
statutes to make it clear that the powers and procedures provided under 
those laws are the exclusive ones that apply only when a claim arises, 
the Civil Rights Procedures Protection Act would prevent discrimination 
claims from being involuntarily sent to binding arbitration. In short, 
this bill prevents employers in all industries from forcing employees 
to give up their right to go to court when they are discriminated 
against on account of race, sex, religion, disability, or other illegal 
criteria.
  This legislation has the endorsement of numerous civil rights groups, 
including the National Organization for Women, the American Civil 
Liberties Union, the National Partnership for Women & Families, the 
National Council of La Roza, Women Employed, the National Employment 
Lawyers Association, and the National Association of Investment 
Professionals.
  By reinforcing the fundamental rights established under various civil 
rights and fair employment practice laws, our bill restores integrity 
to employer--employee relationships. No employer should be permitted to 
ask workers to check their Constitutional and civil rights at the front 
door.

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