In a recent New York State Court filing, petitioner Andrea Tantaros – in the matter of Tantaros v. Fox News Channel, LLC et al, Index No. 156936/2019 – seeks a Temporary Restraining Order precluding Respondents from continuing to arbitrate Petitioner’s sexual harassment allegations, to grant her request for a preliminary and permanent injunction staying the arbitration, and to declare that CPLR section 7575 prohibits further mandatory arbitration of her sexual harassment allegations or claims consistent with the Federal Arbitration Act.
From the Petition:
Section 7515 is to mandatory arbitration of sexual harassment allegations or claims what Brown v. Board of Education was to racial discrimination,” writes her lawyer. “Section 7515 recognizes that female employees are no more equal in resources and bargaining power in arbitrating sexual harassment claims against their employers than separate black schools were equal to separate white schools during Jim Crow. There must be a level playing field. In opening the courthouse doors to sexual harassment allegations notwithstanding mandatory arbitration clauses, the section diminishes the staggering advantages employers enjoy over their female employees if they are authorized to conceal such disputes in a shroud of arbitration in perpetuity. …