Employers that engage in (or enable) the sexual harassment and/or assault of employees often are guilty of more legal violations than just those. A victim of workplace sexual harassment may also have been harmed in monetary ways like the denial of overtime compensation that she rightly earned. Whether your “sexual harassment plus” case involves statutory claims like sub-minimum wages or unpaid overtime, or tort claims like breach of contract, it may present special and unique challenges. To ensure you get justice and fair compensation for all the ways you were wronged, you should get in touch with an experienced New York sexual harassment lawyer.
Late last month, we examined a Manhattan case involving a gym employee who sued her employer for multiple reasons. The trainer alleged sexual harassment and assault in violation of the Gender Motivated Violence Protection Act (GMPVA) and sex discrimination in violation of the New York State Human Rights Law and the New York City Human Rights Law. She also, however, accused her employer of violating the federal Fair Labor Standards Act by failing to pay overtime compensation she had earned, as well as alleging minimum wage violations of the New York Labor Law.
We zeroed in on the trainer’s GMVPA claim when we blogged about the case last month. Today, we consider another side of the case: the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act (EFAA) and its application to claims that fall outside the realm of sexual harassment or sexual assault.
The trainer’s employment contract with the gym contained a broad arbitration clause that demanded arbitration rather than litigation of almost all disputes between the employer and employee. If not for the EFAA, the arbitration clause would have been enforceable and the trainer would have been forced to arbitrate all her claims.
The gym argued that, even with the EFAA in place, the court should at least send some of the causes of action to arbitration; namely, the ones not related to sexual assault or harassment, like her unpaid overtime, minimum wage, and other wage-and-hour claims.
The EFAA Applies to Cases, Not Just Claims
The court rejected this argument. The court’s ruling is a powerful win for sexual harassment victims and a clear reminder of the breadth of the EFAA. Last year, the court issued a ruling stating that “the EFAA render[s] an arbitration clause unenforceable as to the entire case involving a viably pled sexual harassment dispute, as opposed to merely the claims in the case that pertain to the alleged sexual harassment.” Later last year, in another EFAA case, the court again declared that “where a dispute presents multiple claims—some related to sexual harassment, others not—the EFAA blocks arbitration of the entire case, not just the sexual harassment claims.”
Accepting the employer’s argument, the court wrote, would work against Congress’s stated purpose for enacting the EFAA, which is “to empower claims by sexual harassment and/or assault victims that had been inhibited by proliferating arbitration clauses in employment agreements.” Demanding that sexual harassment victims undertake not just one but two legal actions (a lawsuit adjudicating their sexual harassment claims and an arbitration action deciding their minimum wage/overtime claims,) thereby expanding the pain, stress, and expense of obtaining complete justice, would have the opposite effect of empowering the victim.
Today, survivors of workplace-related sexual assaults and sexual harassment have more statutory tools on their side than ever before, including both state (GMVPA) and federal (EFAA) laws. Still, these cases often are profoundly challenging and require a skilled advocate to maximize the chance of obtaining justice. The team of zealous New York sexual harassment attorneys at Phillips & Associates firmly believe that nobody should have to deal with unwelcome comments, jokes, touching, or overtures in the workplace and will aggressively fight for people who have been sexually harassed or assaulted to ensure they get the fair outcome they deserve. To learn more, contact us online or at (866) 229-9441 to set up a free and confidential consultation.