The United States House of Representatives passed a bill on Friday to eliminate mandatory arbitration in consumer and employment contracts.
Lawmakers voted 225-186 along the party lines to pass the Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal Act of 2019, or the FAIR Act, which bans companies from requiring workers and consumers to resolve legal disputes in private arbitration. The legislation would also invalidate current agreements that have already been signed, but only for disputes that come up after the law goes into effect.
Representative Hank Johnson (pictured), who sponsored the bill, stated forced arbitration clauses "hidden in the fine print deprive victims of their day in court before a jury of their peers." He said the FAIR Act would "restore justice to millions of Americans."
