Jamie Leigh Jones vs KBR

This is currently a case of interest in USA. Thought it could lead to an interesting debate.

In 2005 19 year old Jamie Leigh Jones was allegedly gang raped while working as an administrative assistant for KBR in Iraq. Upon return to the United States she was told that she could not sue KBR for the rape because of a binding arbitration contract.

KBR and its former parent company Haliburton are US government contractors. So Senator Al Franken decided to pass a legislation. This legislation would prevent the any company with arbitration clauses that prevent employees for suing for rape and such abuse from doing business with the government. Simply told if the company does not let employees follow due process when raped or abused - they cannot work with the government.

You can read more about Jamie Leigh Jones story on Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_Leigh_Jones

Here is an article on the bill and a Daily Show take on it

(Please note that the Huffington Post is a known liberal news source and the daily show is known to bash Republicans - so its got a very angled coverage)

Here are things to consider
- This is not a criminal case. Being drugged with a date rape drug, Jamie Leigh Jones cannot remember her assailants. The actual rapists may never face charges. She is suing her employer for damages. The case in point now is purely a civil suit.
- However, she was ill treated by the employer. They did not hand over the rape kit to official authorities and when subpoenaed to do so - evidence was lost. It may or may not have lead to the assailants.
- The US government and department of justice did not take appropriate action in a timely manner either

Questions to answer
- Should Jamie Leigh Jones be granted the right to sue in court even though she signed a binding arbitration agreement upon employment. (For those who did not know - Arbitration means an out of court settlement with an arbitrator who negotiates between employees and business in case of dispute)?
- Are there circumstances where government can dismiss a binding legal contract?
- Does the government have any right to tell businesses what their contractual clauses should be (in this case its only for businesses that want to be government contractors)
- KBR did not rape her nor did they arrange for it. Should companies be liable if one employee rapes another?

Interesting

Originally posted by: Summer3

How come she did not go to the local authorities in the country too.

Let me ask a friend who studied law.

She was serving as a US government contractor. In Iraq US government and their contractors are exempt from local law. Has she been with a non government affiliated company, she could have gone to Iraqi courts.

This is clearly a politically motivated case with Franken and a subsidiary of Halliburton being the two parties, I wonder how much money Franken is getting to put that clause in from his donors