Tom Martin’s recent column lambasting the bipartisan Protecting Older Americans Act grossly misrepresents the bill it attempts to oppose (“Support Maine businesses by protecting arbitration,” Aug. 6).
He wrote that the legislation “would prevent older workers from being able to file claims under arbitration, instead having to use expensive court litigation to do so.”
However, that is flatly false. What the bill does is void binding arbitration clauses as applied to older workers bringing age discrimination claims — in other words, it allows the worker to choose whether to bring the claim through an arbitration process, or in court. If a worker decides to bring their claim through arbitration, that’s still allowed.
The reason this bipartisan legislation is so important is because too many workers are forced into corporate-friendly arbitration proceedings against their will. The mechanism that allows companies to get away with this heavy-handed legal tactic is called a binding arbitration clause, and it appears in many employment contracts.
Understandably, many new employees are just happy to be offered a job and sign the contract without consulting a lawyer first. Then, years later, the employee may face age discrimination at work. Seeking equal justice under the law, they discover that the courthouse doors are closed to them, and they are forced into oftentimes-secret arbitration proceedings.
The Protecting Older Americans Act fixes this injustice by preventing employers from forcing older workers seeking to bring age discrimination claims to do so through arbitration. By allowing the employee, not the employer, to decide whether the case should be heard in arbitration proceedings or in court, the Protecting Older Americans Act empowers older workers to more readily get justice.
It’s easy to understand why Tom Martin, a vocal advocate for the interests of corporations, would oppose this bill, but in doing so, he should stick to the facts instead of misleading readers.
For those of us who think corporations have too much power, and workers too little, this bipartisan legislation is an important step in the right direction.
Kiernan Majerus-Collins, Boston University School of Law class of 2024, Auburn
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