sen. al franken's anti-rape amendment signed into law

Good news today, as President Obama signed the Defense Appropriations Act that included an amendment from Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) that prohibits defense contractors from limiting the ability of their employees to seek justice against their employers in court for offenses including rape, sexual assault, harassment and false imprisonment. Although the law does not apply retroactively, any company signing a contract with the government may not enforce arbitration clauses preventing bringing these types of charges to court; thus, once a company such as, oh say former-Halliburton subsidiary KBR signs a new contract with the government, they can no longer invoke any such arbitration clause, such as the one that is preventing former KBR employee Jamie Leigh Jones from suing the company for being drugged and gang-raped by co-workers, and then locked in a storage container by other co-workers to cover up the crimes and destroy forensic evidence. More horrifying details here. Thanks to the new law, Jones and others who have suffered from similar violence and crimes may soon be able to pursue justice in the courts.

Score one for the good guys.