"Gretchen Carlson: How Arbitration Clauses Allow Sexual Harassment to Continue", 10 Mar 2017

...[S]exual harassment in the workplace and forced arbitration clauses that keep so many women (and men) silent...Our courts recognized 40 years ago that sexual harassment was a legitimate legal complaint, but since then, we’ve made little progress to actually end it...Still, over the last nine months, I’ve found that sexual harassment remains pervasive in our culture and almost every woman has a story...In the past month, we’ve learned that women at Sterling Jewelers, Tesla and Uber are joining the legions of others in alleging harassment and discrimination at work...[S]o many women are being silenced by employers who force them into a secret star chamber proceeding called arbitration.  By coercing women to remain silent about illegal behavior, the employer is able to shield abusers from true accountability...The arbitration process...has silenced millions of women who otherwise may have come forward if they knew they were not alone...When employers make arbitration clauses mandatory in contracts, they insist that employees’ waive their rights as a condition of getting the job...Harassment not only damages women and their families — it’s bad for business....