Something odd happened in Texas just a few days ago. Tracy Barker, a former Halliburton employee who was sexually assaulted by her co-workers, had her case against Halliburton thrown out by a Bush-appointed federal judge. So why is this odd?
Well, actually, it may seem odd, but it's no longer unusual. The courts--designed to protect the minority from the majority, and often the last resort for people to vindicate their rights--are closing their doors to millions of Americans and sending some of them to secret arbitrations. In about 94% of the arbitrations involving what happened on the job, the employers win, and the employee is forced to pay the arbitrator just to hear their claims, as well the employer's legal expenses. Oh, and I forgot to mention that the arbitrator is chosen by the employer. Sound just?
As first reported by ABC News, Tracy Barker arrived in Baghdad in September 2004 to begin work for KBR, then a subsidiary of Halliburton. Not long after she arrived, Tracy's coworkers and supervisors made sexually abusive comments, berating and belittling her, and threatening her with physical harm. When she reported the abuse to Halliburton, Tracy was retaliated against.
In June of 2005, after intimidating her with stories about women who had been raped and left to die, Ali Mokhtare, a state department employee who worked closely with the Halliburton employees, attempted to rape Tracy. She was able to escape his attack, but not before Mokhtare had sexually assaulted her. Tracy reported the incident to her direct supervisor, who responded by offering to protect her in exchange for sexual favors. He persisted in his advances, and one evening, he entered her living quarters on a false pretense and sexually assaulted her.
Tracy Barker is not alone in having suffered sexual violence at the hands of her coworkers at Halliburton. The story of Jamie Leigh Jones, now widely known, parallels Tracy Barker's story. Before Jones left for Iraq, she was told that she would be living in a trailer with one other woman, but when she arrived in Baghdad, she discovered that she was stationed in a predominantly male barracks, where she reports that she never saw another woman. Like Tracy Barker, she was the object of belittling remarks and sexual advances from the men in her barracks, but when she requested to be moved to the living quarters that were promised her, her request was denied. On her fourth day in Iraq, Jamie Leigh Jones was drugged and gang-raped by five to six men.
Over two and a half years have passed since Tracy Barker and Jamie Leigh Jones were assaulted. Ali Mokhtare, who admitted to having assaulted Tracy Barker, is still working for the state department and has faced no disciplinary action. The men who raped Jamie Leigh Jones have not been brought to justice, and neither has Halliburton.
Because Tracy and Jamie signed an employment contract requiring binding mandatory arbitration, they may never have their rights vindicated in open court. The clause at issue in Halliburton's employment contract has prevented both Barker and Jones from suing for discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in a civil court.
According to Tort Deform, the problem with mandatory arbitration extends far and wide:
"Most Americans do not know it, but, on a regular basis, they inadvertently sign away their right to go to a public court and have a trial by jury. Often found nestled in a small section of a contract for things like a credit card or a form for a patient about to undergo surgery, arbitration agreements have a large impact on a person's ability to exercise his or her legal rights."
Judge Gray Miller, the judge who threw out Tracy's case, recognized, without irony that "sadly, sexual harassment, up to and including sexual assault, is a reality in today's workplace." Yet, he determined that she had agreed to arbitration when she signed her employment contract and, because of recent decisions by the Supreme Court and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, that he had to uphold the arbitration clause rather than letting the case go forward in court. He placed the burden on Congress to address the problem, stating "The Supreme Court has held that statutory claims may be arbitrable as long as Congress has expressed no intent to the contrary."
Judge Miller was right about one thing. Congress will need to step in and fix this mess, because the courthouse doors are closing fast. There are some in D.C. who are starting to take notice. Two pieces of legislation, the Arbitration Fairness Act and the Civil Rights Act of 2008 would return many of the protections that Tracy, Jamie and the rest of us never should have lost.
Nathan Havey: Republicans for Rape: Lets Get Real
Do the Senators against Al Franken's bill consciously support rape? Of course not. But their actions absolutely support a status quo in which rape and sexual violence flourish.
People play headgames on the jobsite, learn how to start little fights, you have to experience it I think to really understand it, but suffice it to say it was no accident with Helen of Troy, women are truly the more lethal and sinister of the species...think Lucrezia Borgia...they should check her story out, see if she's got some kind of psychology background etc. We had a guy come to work at my shop and he angled for the racism claim. I typed up my 2 weeks' notice, and it stopped him cold. Games people play...
Moreover if you go through the history of Supreme Court cases regarding arbitration, you will see that most of the cases were done way before Bush became presedent. The first change in the interpretation of the law was done in 1991 in Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp case. the more recent case was in 2001 in Circuit City Stores v. Adams. Please notice that all these cases were decided before 2 Roberts and Alito was on the court. I am sure the lawyers can do better job than me listing all the cases...
Therefore, while I agree with you that companies abuse the employment contracts to force peole in arbitration, you can not put a blame for that on Bush.
employment? Could your employee require an employee to submit a workers comp claim to a company picked arbitrator? Could an employer require an employee to submit to a company picked arbitrator for injuries sustained by a company's safety violation? This is bullshit.
That still remains a much better option than approximately 3.2 million American civilians who if they are similarly raped, assaulted or worse on the job, are directly barred by federal law from any right to review of their claim by any Court or official in the United States. Title 5. USC sec. 8128.
In the past month alone on two separate claims the United States denied injury benefits to two American employees based on medical reports paid for by the US. In the first claim, The government doctor was paid by the United States taxpayer for his examination and for his report. The government doctor, not surprisingly, found that after his one time exam, the claimant's government benefits should be ended. Upon my review of this government doctor I found this government doctor has multiple federal indictments against him by the very same US government who hired him, for:
Mail Fraud
Making False Claims Against the United States
Making False Statements Relating to Health Care Matters
and Health Care Fraud.
This was not disclosed to the employee prior to or even after his examination. Apparently, despite multiple indictments for fraud against the United States, the doctor currently remains fully licensed in Texas and on the government payroll.
In the second claim the US ordered another injured American worker to be examined by a US doctor. Once again the US used their "for hire" doctor to terminate the worker's much injury claim. Once again, no disclosure was made to the claimant by the government or the doctor, that the doctor was actually on five years probation with restricted medical and surgical practice limitations in Florida and Colorado. As far as can be seen this doctor also remains on the government payroll and practicing medicine in Colorado.
By federal law, neither of these claimant nor their families have any right of any Court review of their claims, let alone a right to arbitration.
My disgust is only abated by going to Jamie Leigh's foundation's website, and making a donation. They take PayPal.
http://www.jamiesfoundation.org/donate.htm#
Even a certain feminist blog conflates the two most prominent cases against Halliburton/KBR.
Jamie Leigh Jones is testifying today before congress in support of "Jamie's Law" which is a law to compel overseas contractors to disclose statistics on sexual assault and rape to incoming employees, in the same way college campuses are required to today (for essentially the same reasons).
Having recently worked for some ex-Halliburton people here in Austin, I can say without qualification that their corporate culture is that of the most filthy disgusting sex-obsessed misogynistic pigs on the face of the planet. They just can't keep their hands to themselves.
I hate what we have become!
John Edwards for Attorney General!!
So Mokhtare admitted it. Alleged has nothing to do with it in his case. Also, the gang rape would leave physical evidence, so the question is not "was she raped," but "who were the fucktards who did it and when are they going to be sent to jail for it." The suspects are the alleged attackers. The event is not alleged. It is confirmed.
I am also curious where your data regarding workplace-related ADR (Alternate Dispute Resolution) comes from. I'm not suggesting it is wrong, I am just curious about the source.
The State Dept and Dept of Justice declined to bring any charges against the individuals who may have sexually assaulted anyone because they claim not to have jurisdiction over occurrances in Iraq. This, of course, is utter (republican) nonsense. The women assaulted have sought help from their congressmen (republicans, actually) who are trying to help but nothing will happen while Bush is in office.