About the bill
Should corporations be allowed to make customers sign contracts which waive their right to a lawsuit if anything goes awry?
Context
At least tens of millions of Americans are locked into contracts mandating “forced arbitration,” meaning that any legal disputes couldn’t be handled in a traditional court. These are common in everything from cellphone contracts to employment contracts with a boss.
As a Vox article explained, such provisions make it “impossible for workers to sue their bosses in court for sexual harassment, racial discrimination, wage theft, and nearly anything else. Workers are less likely to win their cases in private arbitration, and when they do win, they tend to get much less money than they would in court.”
What the legislation does
The Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal Act would …
Sponsor and status
116th Congress (2019–2021)
This bill was introduced in a previous session of Congress and was passed by the House on September 20, 2019 but was never passed by the Senate.
Although this bill was not enacted, its provisions could have become law by being included in another bill. It is common for legislative text to be introduced concurrently in multiple bills (called companion bills), re-introduced in subsequent sessions of Congress in new bills, or added to larger bills (sometimes called omnibus bills).
222 Cosponsors (220 Democrats, 2 Republicans)
Position statements
What legislators are saying
“Rep. Johnsons Legislation to End Forced Arbitration & Restore Accountability for Consumers, Workers Passes House”
—
Rep. Henry C. “Hank” Johnson [D-GA4]
(Sponsor)
on Sep 20, 2019
“Maloney Votes to End Forced Arbitration”
—
Rep. Carolyn Maloney [D-NY12, 2013-2022]
(Co-sponsor)
on Sep 20, 2019
“Bill Flores Discusses This Week in Washington”
—
Rep. Bill Flores [R-TX17, 2011-2020]
on Sep 20, 2019
History
H.R. 1423 (116th) was a bill in the United States Congress.
A bill must be passed by both the House and Senate in identical form and then be signed by the President to become law.
Bills numbers restart every two years. That means there are other bills with the number H.R. 1423. This is the one from the 116th Congress.
This bill was introduced in the 116th Congress, which met from Jan 3, 2019 to Jan 3, 2021. Legislation not passed by the end of a Congress is cleared from the books.
How to cite this information.
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“H.R. 1423 — 116th Congress: Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal Act.” www.GovTrack.us. 2019. September 29, 2023 <https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/116/hr1423>
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Where is this information from?
GovTrack automatically collects legislative information from a variety of governmental and non-governmental sources. This page is sourced primarily from Congress.gov, the official portal of the United States Congress. Congress.gov is generally updated one day after events occur, and so legislative activity shown here may be one day behind. Data via the congress project.
