Jamie Leigh Jones’ claim that she was gang-raped by co-workers in Iraq four years ago has become a rallying cry for congressional efforts to ban the mandatory binding arbitration clauses that thousands of companies insert into their employment contracts.
Jones is part of a growing political lobby spearheaded by the plaintiffs’ bar and consumer advocates against pre-dispute mandatory arbitration. Their cause got a legal boost recently when the 5th Circuit affirmed that Jones may sue her ex-employer, Halliburton Co./KBR Kellogg Brown & Root, even though she signed an employment contract with wholly owned subsidiary Overseas Administrative Services Ltd. that requires virtually all disputes to be privately arbitrated.
