Lawmakers Pursue Gradual Path to Tackling Mandatory Arbitration

Opponents of mandatory arbitration are taking a piecemeal approach to slowly diminish the enforcement of the pacts in areas where they can find consensus, even as the political climate remains inhospitable to proposals to ban the use of such agreements altogether.

The current target for worker advocates and lawmakers is a carveout for employment discrimination cases involving older Americans that would invalidate forced arbitration agreements signed prior to such allegations. Leading the charge on Capitol Hill are Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), an unlikely duo that successfully pushed for a landmark 2022 law that, following the #MeToo ...