Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) recently introduced an amendment, passed by the Senate on Oct. 6th, to the Defense Appropriations Act which was intended:
"To prohibit the use of funds for any Federal contract with Halliburton Company, KBR, Inc., any of their subsidiaries or affiliates, or any other contracting party if such contractor or a subcontractor at any tier under such contract requires that employees or independent contractors sign mandatory arbitration clauses regarding certain claims."
The amendment name-checked Halliburton and KBR in response to the case of Jamie Lee Jones, a former KBR employee who claims she was attacked and raped by several of her coworkers while working in Iraq in 2005. According to Jones, after she reported the incident to her employers, she was locked in a shipping container for 24 hours. KBR threatened Jones's job, took no action to punish her attackers, and then maintained that the attack should be addressed through arbitration. Jones consented to arbitration upon her employment at KBR, as is standard procedure in many private companies, agreeing not to sue the company if she was injured in work-related activities. In contrast to a trial, arbitration is legally binding, but produces no public record and is conducted with no judge or jury. Under the arbitration agreement, Jones could not sue the company for her treatment, and could not appeal if she lost her case. KBR claimed that Jones' assault was work-related and fell under her arbitration agreement. This takes some mental gymnastics-- KBR was arguing that Jones should have expected to be gang-raped and imprisoned by her coworkers as a normal workplace risk. One assumes that KBR feels this way about all of their female employees.
Thanks to a decision earlier this month from the US Court of Appeals, after three years of legislation Jones can finally sue KBR for her treatment. The implications of her case and the Senate amendment are far-reaching. First, her case highlights the disadvantages of mandatory arbitration. Private companies have long asked employees and customers to agree to mandatory arbitration in dealing with disputes, a practice that many argue heavily favors the private company. In arbitration, it was possible that Jones would be victimized a second time by being stripped of her right to face her attackers in open court, and then probably fired while her attackers escaped punishment.
Second, it shows how little accountability these contracting companies currently have. 30 US Senators voted against an amendment that punishes government-funded companies for condoning something as reprehensible as rape. Contractors take billions of tax dollars to spend with relative freedom, yet refuse to abide by the provision that they allow employees to press charges if they are raped on the job.
There's a rather unfortunate local connection to the story. Both Kansas senators (Brownback and Roberts) and one Missouri senator (Bond) were among the thirty Senators who voted against the amendment, claiming that the amendment unfairly targeted KBR and Halliburton. Proponents of the amendment pointed out that the bill will apply to all government contracting agencies in the future. Many of these thirty senators also seemingly contradicted themselves after calling for the de-funding of ACORN, which formerly received federal funding to help low-income individuals but now stands accused of fraud. Critics point out the two opposing ideas that these Senators seem to hold in their head simultaneously: one, that companies who take government money should hold up to the highest level of scrutiny; the other, that the government should take a hands-off approach to such companies even when faced when evidence of gang-rape:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Rape-Nuts | ||||
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Jones recently appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show to discuss her experience and her efforts to contact the thirty opposing senators:
Unfortunately for Jones and for any female employees of KBR or other government contractors, the amendment may still not go through. Senator Dan Inouye (D-HI) may remove the amendment thanks to continued pressure from defense contractors.
To register to attend the Berkley Lecture on Dec. 4th, please visit the IRC website.
S. Amndt.2588 to H.R. 3326 Voting Record
Franken's Anti-Rape Amendment May Be Stripped By Senior Dem, Sources Say (Huffington Post)
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