The House just passed a bill that would restore legal rights to millions of workers and consumers. By a vote of 225-186, the House passed the Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal (FAIR) Act, to ban companies from requiring workers and consumers to resolve legal disputes in private arbitration.
Arbitration is a process with no judge, no jury, and no public accountability,in which the parties have fewer rights than in the court system. Companies routinely require arbitration as a condition of doing business. For example, you have almost surely agreed to arbitrate any disputes through your credit card agreement, your cell phone agreement, or any agreement with a for-profit college.
Under the FAIR Act, people would still be permitted to arbitrate if they chose to, but companies could no longer force them to do so.
In September American Express Delta Skymiles sent cardholders a change to its Cardmember Agreement titled “Arbitration Procedures.” The first paragraph of the change is: “The fifth sentence is deleted and replaced with: You and we agree that the arbitration will be confidential. You and we agree that we will not disclose the content of the arbitration proceeding or its outcome to anyone, but you or we may notify any government authority of the claim as permitted or required by law.”
This provision seems to mean that cardholders risk having their cards revoked if they tell their spouses, priests, rabbis, ministers, imams, lawyers, etc. the content or outcome of a proceeding and somehow American Express discovered or suspected the cardholder has violated the provision.