The recently enacted Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021 (EFAA) represents one of the more impactful new laws affecting cases of workplace harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. Many employers historically force all new employees to agree to mandatory arbitration as a condition of accepting a job, then try to use that agreement to force workers’ claims of harassment into arbitration settings that the employers believed would be more advantageous to them. Now, with the EFAA in place, many workers harmed by sexual harassment can avoid that arbitration outcome, even if they signed an arbitration agreement when they took their jobs. An experienced New York sexual harassment lawyer can provide in-depth information and advice about whether the EFAA applies to your case and exactly how it may help you.
A recent case from here in New York City shows how the EFAA can work in an employee’s favor.
The employee, B.D., was an experienced costumer who, in September 2021, thought she’d landed a dream job — working as a costumer with one of Manhattan’s most prestigious dance troupes.