2022: On the Hill and In the States
“Purple Campaign has successfully advocated for stronger laws and will continue to act as a bridge between constituents and lawmakers on important anti-harassment issues.”
Last week, we discussed the wide variety of advocacy tools nonprofit organizations have at their disposal. Legislative advocacy, in particular, plays a critical role in ensuring all employees have access to safe and equitable workplaces. Over the past few years, the Purple Campaign has successfully advocated for new laws at both the federal and state levels. From launching letter-writing campaigns to engaging directly with lawmakers, the Purple Campaign is consistently involved in creating and supporting effective public policy solutions.
ON THE HILL
When done effectively, legislative advocacy at the federal level influences public policy by giving a voice to constituents and pressing lawmakers to effectively respond to concerns. As an organization committed to eradicating workplace sexual harassment, the Purple Campaign has dedicated significant time and energy to past, current, and future legislation that affects our mission. Since the Purple Campaign’s inception, we have advocated for Congress to introduce and enact stronger anti-harassment protections in federal workplaces and beyond.
Below are a few of the federal laws we are advocating for in 2022:
The Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Harassment Act
In December 2017, Congresswoman Cheri Bustos and US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand first announced legislation, titled the “Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Harassment Act,” intended to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. Purple Campaign President Ally Coll joined renowned #MeToo reform advocate and television news anchor, Gretchen Carlson and Vice President for Legislative Affairs at Public Citizen, Lisa Gilbert, in support of the bill. Coll explained how “Together, nondisclosure agreements and mandatory arbitration clauses combine to make it literally illegal for a victim to share his or her story with the world — or even to access the legal system at all.”
The bill, which was passed out of Committee with bipartisan support in November 2021 by both the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, ensures that survivors of sexual assault and harassment can choose to bring a case in court instead of being forced into arbitration, where perpetrators may be allowed to hide behind a wall of secrecy. The bill gives survivors the chance to make their cases public, and ensures that abusers and those who enabled them are held accountable. Senator Gillibrand noted that the bill is “an important step forward for survivors and for the more than 60 million Americans who are subject to mandatory arbitration clauses” and that she would continue to keep advocating until the bill was signed into law. The Purple Campaign will continue to advocate as well for the passage of this important bipartisan legislation in the hopes that it will come to the floor for a vote this legislative session.
BE HEARD Act
In November 2021, the Purple Campaign joined over 80 organizations in supporting the “Bringing an End to Harassment by Enhancing Accountability and Rejecting Discrimination in the Workplace Act,” otherwise known as the BE HEARD Act. The BE HEARD Act builds on and strengthens existing civil rights laws by expanding protections for workers, while also safeguarding existing anti-discrimination laws and protections.
The bill, originally introduced in 2019, was reintroduced on November 17, 2021 in the House and Senate. It called for a groundbreaking set of reforms designed to help ensure equality, safety, and dignity in the workplace for everyone. In a letter signed by the Purple Campaign and other interested organizations, the signatories called for members of Congress to co-sponsor the bill, which highlighted the lived experiences of some of the most vulnerable workers and offered multiple reforms to prevent and respond to all forms of harassment and discrimination.
Among other things, the BE HEARD Act would provide resources to assist employers in preventing and addressing harassment; expand workplace protections; and prohibit mandatory arbitration and pre-dispute nondisclosure agreements. Passage of the BE HEARD Act is an important part of the Purple Campaign’s 2022 Congressional agenda.
Judiciary Accountability Act
Prior to the enactment of the Congressional Accountability Reform Act in December 2018, Congress and the Federal Judiciary were both lacking in workplace protections for federal employees. With the passage of the CAA, the Federal Judiciary now stands as the only branch of the government whose employees are not protected by the foundational federal statutes — such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 — that prohibit discrimination and retaliation. Despite its role as the institution responsible for interpreting, enforcing, and applying those types of laws to every other employer in the United States, the judiciary to this day has failed to provide its employees with any meaningful protections.
In July 2021, the Judiciary Accountability Act (“JAA”) was introduced in the House and Senate to protect employees of the federal judiciary from harassment and discrimination. Drawing from the comprehensive reforms enacted through the CAA Reform Act, the JAA would implement urgently needed reforms such as providing judiciary employees with the same statutory right to be free from discrimination and retaliation; creating a nationwide workplace misconduct prevention program; conducting a review of employee experiences with harassment in the judiciary; and holding accountable supervisors and others in positions of power who ignore or trivialize complaints of workplace misconduct.
The Purple Campaign has been working with lawmakers on this important legislation since it was introduced. As Purple Campaign President Ally Coll stated, “This bill is a critical step forward that will ensure that the more than 30,000 employees of the federal judiciary have the basic statutory protections that are guaranteed in most other workplaces in America. It’s long past time for the judiciary to commit to living by the same principles and laws it requires other employers to abide by.”
In his 2021 Year-End Report, Chief Justice John Roberts recognized that “Members of Congress have expressed ongoing concerns” about sexual harassment in the Federal Judiciary, but pushed back against current efforts to remedy the problem through federal legislation, suggesting that the problem was confined to “several high-profile incidents” and was not widespread. The Chief Justice outlined steps the Federal Judiciary has taken to address workplace misconduct–steps that remain insufficient and further highlight the need for Congress to take action by enacting the Judiciary Accountability Act. Moving the JAA forward and enacting statutory protections for Federal Judiciary employees is a key legislative priority for the Purple Campaign in 2022.
IN THE STATES
Purple Campaign is engaging in harassment reform efforts in state legislatures across the country. As an organization dedicated to addressing workplace harassment by establishing better laws, we will continue to urge state lawmakers to enact further reforms in the upcoming years. Among other initiatives, we look forward to working with legislators in various states to strengthen anti-harassment laws and increase protections for all employees.
In prior years, we have advocated for numerous anti-harassment initiatives at the state level with the goal of aiding in the passage of laws that are long-term solutions to the systemic problem of sexual harassment. Here’s what’s ahead on the Purple Campaign’s 2022 legislative agenda in the states:
The FAST Recovery Act
The Purple Campaign joined a coalition of workers’ rights advocates, labor experts and civil rights groups from across the country in January 2022, urging California’s Assembly and Senate members to vote AYE on this legislation. The FAST Recovery Act would bring workers in the fast-food industry directly into the process of developing policies and solutions to improve their workplaces, which are notorious for health and safety, harassment and discrimination, and other labor law violations. Passage of this law would represent an important breakthrough, boosting the efforts of fast-food and retail workers to raise wages and improve their working conditions. It also signals a shift in thought leadership, inviting the workers who are experts on their workplaces into the process of designing effective solutions. Our organization will urge other states to draft and pass similar legislation this year to protect workers in industries that are particularly susceptible to workplace harassment.
FLASH Act
In April 2021, the Purple Campaign urged California lawmakers to enact California Senate Bill 53, a bill that would establish legal protections against “cyber flashing.” Specifically, SB 53—also known as the FLASH (Forbid Lewd Activity and Sexual Harassment) Act—would punish any individual that knowingly transmits lewd or sexually explicit material by electronic means without the expressed consent of the recipient, an activity known as “cyber flashing.” This behavior often occurs via various social media platforms, dating platforms, text messages, and email.
Recognizing that cyber flashing is a modern form of sexual harassment, the Purple Campaign joined over 15 other organizations to call for perpetrators to be held accountable for their abusive behavior. From our perspective, SB 53 represents important progress in advancing policies consistent with the Purple Campaign’s work to address harassment through our framework of reduction, response, rethinking, and rebuilding. The Purple Campaign will continue to push for the enactment of the FLASH Act in 2022, and will urge other states to consider similar legislation.
Providing Expertise at the State and Municipal Level
Over the years, the Purple Campaign has provided expert testimony in state and municipal hearings to help advocate for stronger anti-harassment policies. For example, in September 2019, the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights and the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault held three public hearings on sexual harassment to develop a better understanding of how the state can combat sexual harassment in workplaces, in housing, and in places of public accommodation. Purple Campaign President Ally Coll testified about her own experience with workplace sexual harassment and urged New Jersey lawmakers to implement critical anti-harassment reforms, including ending mandatory mediation, extending the amount of time survivors have to file a claim, increasing transparency through public reporting, and implementing mandatory anti-harassment training. She provided similar testimony before the New York State Legislature at the first Joint Senate and Assembly Public Hearing on sexual harassment in the workplace in over 27 years.
In 2022, the Purple Campaign will continue to share our expertise to help states and municipalities enact stronger anti-harassment policies.