Leadership Conference
on Civil Rights
1629 K Street, NW
10 th Floor
Washington, D.C. 20006
Phone: 202-466-3311
Fax: 202-466-3435
www.civilrights.org
OFFICERS
CHAIRPERSON
October 19, 2009
Dorothy I. Height
National Council of Negro Women
VICE CHAIRPERSONS
Judith L. Lichtman
National Partnership for
Women & Families
Karen K. Narasaki
Asian American Justice Center
The Honorable Daniel Inouye
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20515
William L. Taylor
Citizens’ Commission on Civil Rights
SECRETARY
William D. Novelli
AARP
TREASURER
Gerald W. McEntee
The Honorable John Murtha
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20510
AFSCME
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Barbara Arnwine
Lawyers’ Committee For Civil
Rights Under Law
Arlene Holt Baker
AFL-CIO
Caroline Fredrickson
American Civil Liberties Union
Kim Gandy
National Organization for Women
Ron Gettelfinger
International Union, United
Automobile Workers of America
Marcia Greenberger
National Women’s Law Center
Linda D. Hallman
American Association of
University Women
Andrew J. Imparato
American Association of People with
Disabilities
Dear Chairmen Inouye and Murtha:
On behalf of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), the nation’s oldest,
largest, and most diverse civil and human rights coalition, as well as the Lawyers’
Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, National Partnership for Women & Families,
Public Citizen, National Employment Lawyers Association, and other organizations
focused on protecting our nation’s civil rights laws, we write to express our strong
support for the Franken Amendment to H.R. 3326, the Defense Appropriations Act for
2010 (S. Amdt. 2558). Please ensure that this amendment remains a part of the final bill
as it was passed by the Senate, without being weakened.
Benjamin Jealous
NAACP
Jacqueline Johnson
National Congress of American Indians
Michael B. Keegan
People For the American Way
Floyd Mori
Japanese American Citizens League
Marc H. Morial
National Urban League
Janet Murguia
National Council of La Raza
Debra Ness
S. Amdt. 2558 would deny taxpayer dollars to contractors that force secret, binding
arbitration on their employees in cases of sexual abuse and harassment and other
egregious forms of unlawful job discrimination, such as creating racially and religiously
hostile work environments, that are prohibited under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of
1964 (Title VII). The amendment recognizes that civil rights are meaningless if they
cannot be enforced in a court of law.
National Partnership for Women and
Families
Mary Rose Oakar
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination
Committee
John Payton
NAACP Legal Defense &
Educational Fund, Inc.
Dennis Van Roekel
National Education Association
David Saperstein
Religious Action Center for Reform
Judaism
Shanna L. Smith
National Fair Housing Alliance
Joe Solmonese
Human Rights Campaign
Andrew L. Stern
Service Employees
International Union
John Trasvina
Mexican American Legal Defense
and Educational Fund
The Franken amendment was drafted in response to the horrific case of Jamie Leigh
Jones, who was viciously assaulted, gang-raped, and sexually harassed by co-workers
while working for Halliburton/Kellogg Brown & Root in Iraq. After she reported the
incident, her employers confined her in a shipping container and prevented her from
contacting her family. As a matter of law, these actions would constitute both unlawful
sex discrimination under Title VII and the intentional torts of assault, battery, and
infliction of emotional distress (among others). Yet when Ms. Jones attempted to sue
Halliburton for the harm she endured, she was denied access to the courts; the company
insisted that she submit her claims to secret, binding arbitration instead. And Ms. Jones’s
case is not an isolated incident.
Randi Weingarten
American Federation of Teachers
Mary G. Wilson
League of Women Voters
COMPLIANCE/ENFORCEMENT
COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSON
Karen K. Narasaki
Asian American Justice Center
PRESIDENT & CEO
Wade J. Henderson
It is not enough to deny funding to contractors that mandate arbitration of sexual-assault
cases. Claims under Title VII must also be included; otherwise, the entire purpose of S.
Amdt. 2558 would be defeated. Title VII covers sexual intimidation and the maintenance
of hostile work environments – conduct that, if permitted to continue, escalates into the
kind of sexually lawless environment that Ms. Jones faced. It is illogical for Congress to
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
Page 2
address sexual violence but not the harassment and other conduct that lead directly to, and, if
addressed, would effectively prevent, such violence.
Moreover, unless Title VII claims are included, other forms of discrimination – not connected to
sexual violence but nevertheless egregious and intolerable – would continue to be swept under
the rug of forced arbitration. Indeed, defense-contractor employees have too often been
subjected to racial or religious harassment and discrimination in violation of our nation’s
fundamental civil rights protections. For example, in the case of Mauldin v. Halliburton, an
African-American Jehovah’s witness who was the only black driver for Halliburton in Tyler,
Texas, alleged that he was called “n----” and “jigaboo” on multiple occasions by his supervisor
and co-workers and was the persistent target of racist jokes. He was also the only driver whose
hours were reduced, and his requests for days off to attend religious services were denied without
any attempt to accommodate them. After he complained about this conduct, Mr. Mauldin
alleges, Halliburton retaliated against him by claiming he had falsified time-records – a claim
that he categorically denies. But because of Halliburton’s forced arbitration policy, Mr.
Mauldin’s claims were relegated to a secret arbitration tribunal.
S. 2558 is narrowly tailored to the problem of forced arbitration of unlawful discrimination by
defense contractors. It applies prospectively only; it applies only to sexual-violence and Title
VII cases; it applies only to funds appropriated for 2010. Perhaps most important, it applies only
to contractors that impose involuntary arbitration on their employees as a condition of
employment. Companies that afford their employees a truly voluntary choice of arbitration –
i.e., after a dispute arises – remain completely free to do so under this amendment.
We respectfully urge your support of this amendment and of its coverage of Title VII as well as
sexual-violence claims. We would greatly appreciate the opportunity to discuss this important
issue with you further. Please feel free to contact us, or LCCR Counsel Lisa Bornstein, at 202466-3311. Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Wade Henderson
President & CEO
LCCR
AFL-CIO
American Association for Justice
American Civil Liberties Union
Asian American Justice Center
Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
Center for Responsible Lending
Consumer Action
Consumer Federation of America
Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety
Nancy Zirkin
Executive Vice President
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
Page 3
Homeowners for Better Building
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Legal Momentum
NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund
National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum
National Association of Consumer Advocates
National Consumer Law Center (on behalf of its low income clients)
National Consumers League
National Council of La Raza
National Employment Lawyers Association
National Partnership for Women & Families
National Senior Citizens Law Center
National Women’s Law Center
Public Citizen
U.S. PIRG
Women Employed
Workplace Fairness
cc:
The Honorable Harry Reid
Majority Leader of the Senate
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Speaker of the House
