Public Citizen

Stand Up to Halliburton: Vote "Yes" on the Franken Amendment

Urgent action needed! We helped pass Sen. Franken’s (D-Minn.) amendment to bar defense contractors from forcing employees with sexual assault and discrimination claims into arbitration. But now, as the House and Senate negotiate a final version of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act (DOD Appropriations bill, H.R. 3326), House and Senate leaders are considering weakening the amendment by leaving discrimination victims unprotected.

Fight forced arbitration today!

Use the form below to contact your members of Congress TODAY and tell them the final DOD Appropriations bill MUST include the Franken Amendment, S.A. 2588.

To maximize your impact, follow up by calling the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 to tell both of your senators and your representative that you expect them to stand up to big corporate defense contractors on behalf of victims of discrimination and assault! You can also look up their direct numbers HERE.

Please let us know if you made the call by emailing action (at) citizen.org.

Please take a moment to contact your members of Congress:

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April 19, 2018

Subject:

I am writing to tell you that I support the Franken Amendment to the defense appropriations bill. This important amendment would require defense contractors to drop mandatory employment arbitration of employment discrimination, sexual harassment and sexual assault claims in order to do business with the U.S. government.

Please work to keep the Franken Amendment intact in the final defense appropriations bill. The Franken Amendment to the Department of Defense Appropriations bill (Amendment number 2588, H.R. 3326) passed the Senate 68-30 on Oct. 6, 2009, but is not in the House version of the bill. As you work to reconcile the two versions, please listen to your constituents instead of the defense contractor lobbyists who are fighting hard to have the Franken Amendment stripped out or watered down.

It is outrageous and appalling that the government would consider continuing to do business with defense contractors like Halliburton/KBR who are fighting to prevent victims of sexual assault and discrimination from receiving their fair day in court.

In one particularly egregious case of mandatory employment arbitration, Jamie Leigh Jones, a defense contractor employee in Iraq, was drugged, gang-raped, and then confined to a guarded shipping container when she reported the incident. Ms. Jones and her employer, KBR, have been locked in a three year court battle just to determine whether Ms. Jones has the right to even bring a lawsuit at all.

The government shouldn’t let women like Ms. Jones be victimized twice—first by being assaulted or discriminated against in their workplace, and then by being denied the right to have their day in court. 
Please do everything you can to make sure the Franken Amendment stays in the Department of Defense Appropriations Bill.

Sincerely,

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