Posted on 10/08/2009 6:55:53 AM PDT by steve-b
Sen. Al Franken finally has a piece of legislation under his belt, signed by the U.S. Senate. His amendment passed through a roll call vote Tuesday night. We're all for getting things done in a Congress that appears to be stalling on anything and everything possible.
Franken's amendment stops defense contractors from receiving federal funding if they use mandatory arbitration clauses that prevent victims of assault from going to court. Nine Republicans voted with Democrats on the legislation for a final vote of 68-30. The amendment was part of the 2010 Defense Appropriations Bill....
"The story came to my attention of Jamie Leigh Jones who, when she was 19, went to Iraq to work for [defense contractor] KBR and she was put in the barracks with 400 men and was sexually harassed," Franken told the Huffington Post in a brief interview shortly after the vote. "She complained. But they didn't do anything about it. She was drugged and gang raped and they locked her up in a shipping container. She tried to sue KBR and they said you have a mandatory arbitration clause in your contract. She tried to fight back and said this is ridiculous. She took it to court and they have been fighting her for three years."Franken says he hopes this is just the first step in his effort to add more oversight to contractors that receive federal funding.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.citypages.com ...
“We’re all for getting things done in a Congress that appears to be stalling on anything and everything possible.”
In a year where we’re already around one and a half trillion (!) dollars in deficit, maybe that’s a good thing. If it were, in fact, happening.
I don’t know as a woman, I am pretty upset about a woman who was gang raped and then locked in a crate. How is this not criminal? The people who did this should be prosecuted. I don’t like Franken but this is about rape.
Yes, this particular case is disturbing, but an arbitration clause doesnt necessarily prevent a claimant from receiving damages- they may not hit the lottery as they might with a jury verdict, but it doesnt shut them out from recovering damages, either.
So ultimately, this law is about expanding tort litigation.
I can’t defend the Republicans who voted against it.
Not according to Fraken:
From the article: "Franken says he hopes this is just the first step in his effort to add more oversight to contractors that receive federal funding."
No mention of rape.
What would happen if it is proven that massive voter fraud was planned and carried out by Acorn against Norm Coleman? It is not all that far fetched and, more than likely, did happen. Franken is scum.
But this is about a civil lawsuit against a company that did not rape or harass her but are being held responsible. Furthermore, by taking the job she accepted the terms of arbitration. What if they didn't hire her because they determined it was unsafe for women there? They would have been sued for discrimination.
So in 1000 years, when people are reading “The Rise and Fall of the American Empire” will Franken be regarded in the same manner as Caligula’s horse?
Not as much sense and fewer accomplishments than the horse, most likely.
Most likley the South end of a Northbound horse.
Having said that, the legislation is commendable. There's something suspect about a company that would make anyone, especially a 19-yr old female, sign that type of contract knowing full well the circumstances they might encounter in a war zone.
I’m sure he didn’t write this bill and it was written for him to introduce.
They need to investigate Franken and ACORN. At the moment, I believe he was elected on the back of ACORN fraud. The reason I say this is because there were reports of thousands of ACORN registered voters and Franken won by a small margin. Because of ACORN’s reputation, this needs immediate attention.
And if KBR ever wants to have a federal contract again they will accept that they don't get to do this sort of cover-up any more.
I’m all in favor of anything that blocks private enterprise from doing business with the federal government.
No, this legislation is NOT commendable. Most defense contractors us arbitration clauses in their terms and conditions for one very reasonable and simple reason: protecting themselves from the extortion of exhorbitant legal lotto litigation. The arbitration clause does not necessarily prevent litigation later, but requires that any claims must go through arbitration first. You can't go straight to litigation lotto.
Exactly.
Oversight = We will tell you what you can and can’t do.
Why is this limited to only defense contractors? Arbitration is an entire genre of law introduced to our legal system to force management to reach a decision with unions. It is heavily used in union states. The basis of it is that management is not allowed to hire free labor when a dispute/strike between labor and management occurs. Basically, heads the union wins, tails the union wins. Its called union state rules.
Actually, he’s been after this cause for a while and has held hearings on the arbitration issue.
So what’s the problem? Corporations can do what they want. It’s just that, as always, if they want Uncle Sam’s penny they must dance to Uncle Sam’s tune.
How do you know what I know? Have you read the Amendment? I did.
Don’t assume to know what I know....sheesh
Unless I missed your /s tag...if private enterprise does not supply the federal government with offices, vehicles, supplies, guns, beans, and bullets, etc then the fedgov will have to either purchase abroad or go into business themselves, won't they?
Thanks for your reply as a Mom of an 18 year old girl, I find this terrible. I don’t like Franken either.
I thought Democrats didn’t consider rape as being drugged and forced to have sex?
Or was that rape-rape?
Could you provide a link to the actual amendment?
Everything I’ve read regarding this (other than the feel good, short on facts, puff pieces like this one) makes it appear to be beneficial only to lawyers.
Also, if an employee of GM rapes someone, should GM, the union and the federal government (because of the bailout) be held liable in a civil suit?
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=3977702 A Houston, Texas woman says she was gang-raped by Halliburton/KBR coworkers in Baghdad, and the company and the U.S. government are covering up the incident. (ABC News, "20/20") More Photos Jamie Leigh Jones, now 22, says that after she was raped by multiple men at a KBR camp in the Green Zone, the company put her under guard in a shipping container with a bed and warned her that if she left Iraq for medical treatment, she'd be out of a job. "Don't plan on working back in Iraq. There won't be a position here, and there won't be a position in Houston," Jones says she was told. In a lawsuit filed in federal court against Halliburton and its then-subsidiary KBR, Jones says she was held in the shipping container for at least 24 hours without food or water by KBR, which posted armed security guards outside her door, who would not let her leave. Jones described the container as sparely furnished with a bed, table and lamp. Related PHOTOS: KBR Employees: Co. Covered Up Sex Assault "It felt like prison," says Jones, who told her story to ABC News as part of an upcoming "20/20" investigation. "I was upset; I was curled up in a ball on the bed; I just could not believe what had happened." Finally, Jones says, she convinced a sympathetic guard to loan her a cell phone so she could call her father in Texas. "I said, 'Dad, I've been raped. I don't know what to do. I'm in this container, and I'm not able to leave,'" she said. Her father called their congressman, Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas. "We contacted the State Department first," Poe told ABCNews.com, "and told them of the urgency of rescuing an American citizen" -- from her American employer. Poe says his office contacted the State Department, which quickly dispatched agents from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad to Jones' camp, where they rescued her from the container. According to her lawsuit, Jones was raped by "several attackers who first drugged her, then repeatedly raped and injured her, both physically and emotionally." Jones told ABCNews.com that an examination by Army doctors showed she had been raped "both vaginally and anally," but that the rape kit disappeared after it was handed over to KBR security officers. 1 | 2 |
The company hires the arbitrators. Look, there is a loophole that allows these men to get away with this. I want them prosecuted. I don’t think such contract should exist.
It is not limited to defense contractors.
Criminal prosecution has NOTHING to do with an arbitration clause in a contract that determines civil libility.
It is still about a young 19 year old who was raped and because of some loopholes these guys got away with. I hope they fix this it is unacceptable. These guys should not be above the law.
They can’t prosecute it criminally because of a stupid loophole which must be fixed. Read the article I provided. There is more information. I know it is civil court and I hope she wins big...disgusting situation.
I read the article- twice now.
“She tried to sue KBR and they said you have a mandatory arbitration clause in your contract. She tried to fight back and said this is ridiculous. She took it to court and they have been fighting her for three years.”
It says nothing about preventing criminal prosecution, and in fact I’d think such a clause would be illegal.
This is about her suing civilly, not about a criminal prosecution. Apples and oranges.
Still missing the legal picture. Was she on a military base? Is there no legal authority for civilians there? How about MPs? Or was she in Iraq outside of US military authority? Obviously there were no criminal charges filed. Is it because they were under Iraq legal authority?
Sounds like Deadwood, that outlaw mining town of the 1800s officially owned by American Indians.
“Since the handover of sovereignty to Iraqis, many of the facilities in the Green Zone have been turned over to the new Iraqi government. It is still a base for western private military contractors, and home to the U.S., British and Australian embassies. The permanent U.S. embassy is located in the southern Green Zone, overlooking the Tigris River.”
“On 1 January 2009, full control of the Green Zone was handed back to Iraqi security forces.[10]”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_zone
Statement of Purpose: 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.
Coin-operated politicians, acting at the behest of corrupt contractors, have set up a situation that shields politically favored criminals from both Iraqi and American law (basically, by playing a shell game of asserting that American law doesn't apply because the bases are in Iraq, and Iraqi law doesn't apply because the bases are run by American authorities).
This is the sort of thing that makes it easy to paint the US as simply a greedy imperial power rather than a nation acting to defend legitimate interests.
There are some obvious parallels, yes. The result is that laws don't apply unless the people in power happen to find them convenient.
If it’s such a great idea, why just apply it to THIS funding?
Why not ALL funding?
SA 2588. Mr. FRANKEN (for himself and Ms. Landrieu) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill H.R. 3326, making appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2010, and for other purposes; as follows:
On page 245, between lines 8 and 9, insert the following:
Sec. 8104. (a) None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used for any existing or new Federal contract if the contractor or a subcontractor at any tier requires that an employee or independent contractor, as a condition of employment, sign a contract that mandates that the employee or independent contractor performing work under the contract or subcontract resolve through arbitration any claim under title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or any tort related to or arising out of sexual assault or harassment, including assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment, or negligent hiring, supervision, or retention. (b) The prohibition in subsection (a) does not apply with respect to employment contracts that may not be enforced in a court of the United States.
Jurisdiction for criminal prosecution does not seem to be addressed by Frankenshmuck’s bill. Apparently he is not concerned with prosecuting the perps, and is content to let the status quo stand in that regard.
He is evidently interested in expanding tort litigation as I noted previously. That is what this bill is about.
Legal experts say Jones’ alleged assailants will likely never face a judge and jury, due to an enormous loophole that has effectively left contractors in Iraq beyond the reach of United States law.
“It’s very troubling,” said Dean John Hutson of the Franklin Pierce Law Center. “The way the law presently stands, I would say that they don’t have, at least in the criminal system, the opportunity for justice.” I said there is a legal loophole which prevents criminal prosecution, but I believe the case needs to be prosecuted criminally and I think she should sue Haliburton, maybe next time this won’t happen if they pay out much dollars.
Interesting point guys.
The Dems were on the issue of private contractors and partially privatizing the war in Iraq (especially with rebuilding) leaves a legal no mans land. That was an issue I only saw on MSNBC.
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