Listen at 90.3 FM and 98.3 FM in the Quad Cities, 95.9 FM in Dubuque, or on the WVIK app!

Donate

Play Live Radio

Next Up:

0:00

0:00 0:00

Available On Air Stations

Government

Bustos Bill to End Forced Arbitration Bill Passes

WVIK, Quad Cities NPR | By Herb Trix

Published February 10, 2022 at 3:03 PM CST

Moline Congresswoman Cheri Bustos speaking in the US House on Monday

Just three days after it was approved by the House, a bill introduced by Moline Congresswoman Cheri Bustos passed in the Senate Thursday.

Called the The Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act, it would void arbitration agreements in any contract when complaints are filed for possible sexual assault or harassment. An estimated 60 million Americans will be affected, plus millions more with contracts for nursing homes, leases, and movers.

She first introduced the bill five years ago after learning about a company where thousands of women were harassed or assaulted, but forced arbitration kept all their cases secret.

It was approved by a voice vote in the Senate, and by a vote of 335-97 in the House.

Government

Herb Trix

A native of Detroit, Herb Trix began his radio career as a country-western disc jockey in Roswell, New Mexico (“KRSY, your superkicker in the Pecos Valley”), in 1978. After a stint at an oldies station in Topeka, Kansas (imagine getting paid to play “Louie Louie” and “Great Balls of Fire”), he wormed his way into news, first in Topeka, and then in Freeport Illinois. While a graduate student in the Public Affairs Reporting Program at the University of Illinois at Springfield (then known as Sangamon State University), he got his first taste of public radio, covering Illinois state government for WUIS. Here in the Quad Cities, Herb worked for WHBF Radio before coming to WVIK in 1987. Herb also produces the weekly public affairs feature Midwest Week – covering the news behind the news by interviewing reporters about the stories they cover.

See stories by Herb Trix