LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION urging the New York State Congressional deleg-
ation to support Senator Al Franken's Senate amendment 2588 to H.R.3326,
Department of Defense Appropriations Act

WHEREAS, The Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009 declares that no predis-
pute arbitration agreement shall be valid or enforceable if it requires
arbitration of: (1) an employment, consumer, or franchise dispute, or
(2) a dispute arising under any statute intended to protect civil
rights; and
WHEREAS, This Act further declares that the validity or enforceability
of an agreement to arbitrate shall be determined by a court, under
federal law, rather than an arbitrator, irrespective of whether the
party resisting arbitration challenges the arbitration agreement specif-
ically or in conjunction with other terms of the contract containing
such agreement; and
WHEREAS, Senate amendment 2588 to H.R.3326, Department of Defense
Appropriations Act for 2010, was introduced by Senator Al Franken of
Minnesota in response to the case of Jamie Leigh Jones, a 22-year-old
Texan who alleges that in 2005 she was drugged and sexually assaulted by
fellow contract workers while working for defense contractor
Halliburton/KBR at Camp Hope in Baghdad, Iraq; and
WHEREAS, Ms. Jones sued Halliburton/KBR and a three-judge panel of the
5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in September of 2009 that Jones'
employment contract with Halliburton/KBR does not prohibit her from
suing over the claims she has made and that her lawsuit against
Halliburton/KBR can go to trial; and
WHEREAS, Under the Franken amendment, defense contractors who receive
federal funding could no longer require that employees sign contracts
mandating that they settle employment disputes through arbitration; the
amendment applies to current defense contracts and thus contractors who
have employment arbitration agreements with their employees and who have
already completed work for the military would not be able to be paid for
that work; and
WHEREAS, Big corporations, led by the United States Chamber of
Commerce, have worked for years to prevent workers from suing their
employers in almost any circumstance, even the horrific act of sexual
assault; and
WHEREAS, Jamie Leigh Jones won the right to sue when the Fifth Circuit
Court of Appeals found in September of 2009 that her assault was not in
any way related to her employment, therefore nullifying restrictions in
her employee contract; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the New York State Congressional delegation be and
hereby is respectfully memorialized by this Legislative Body to support
Senator Al Franken's Senate amendment 2588 to H.R.3326, Department of
Defense Appropriations Act; and be it further
RESOLVED, That copies of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be tran-
smitted to the United States Chamber of Commerce, and to each member of
the Congressional delegation from the State of New York.