Tag Archives for University of California

Senate Aging Committee: Mandatory Arbitration in Age Bias Cases

Published in RINewsToday on September 8, 2025

Chairman Rick Scott (R-FL) and Ranking Member Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging recently held a full committee hearing titled ‘Protecting Older Americans: Leveling the Playing Field for Older Workers’ in SD-106 at 10:30 a.m., shining a spotlight on the harmful impact of age discrimination which is viewed as pervasive and damaging to the nation’s economy.  The intent of this hearing was to raise public awareness about how it results in the potential loss of legal rights of older workers through the legalese in employment contracts, requiring mandating arbitration.

According to a 2024 AARP survey, the vast majority of older workers have reported witnessing age discrimination. The survey found that 64% of older workers have either seen or experienced age discrimination in the workplace.  Additionally, the findings indicated that, more than 1 in 5 older Americans said that they worried that they were being pushed out of their job because of their age. This comes as Americans have started working later in life, with workers who are over 75 years old becoming the fastest growing age group in the workforce

After calling the hearing to order, Chairman Scott stated, “Age discrimination isn’t just wrong, it’s stupid. I’m a business guy, and I can tell you that looking at someone’s age instead of the value they bring to an organization makes no sense. You can’t run a business or government that way and we need to make sure it’s not happening to American seniors.”

Opening the hearing, Chairman Scott stressed that work provides purpose and fulfillment. “Having a purpose is an essential part of the American Dream, and it has long been an indicator of both mental and physical well-being across all age groups,” he said, noting that research findings indicate that “older workers who remain engaged, experience greater physical health, mental resilience, and life satisfaction.”

“We need to make sure Americans of all ages have the opportunity to work and pursue their dreams by stopping age discrimination and removing the red tape and barriers that hamper or discourage older Americans from continuing work or starting new businesses or careers,” Chairman Scott told the Senate Panel.

The economic and overall well-being of older Americans was at the center of the Sept. 3 hearing, which brought the issue of age discrimination in the workplace to the forefront with a growing number of older workers being denied employment, being passed over for promotions, or just being fired because of their age. The discussion, led by Ranking Member Gillibrand, took a close look at a major legal barrier for victims of age discrimination, the forcing of mandatory arbitration clauses in employment contracts.

“In a time when the population of older Americans is growing and many are returning to the workforce, we need to make sure that those who face age discrimination can have their day in court,” says Ranking Member Gillibrand in an opening statement. “Victims of age discrimination often can’t seek justice or accountability in court because of a forced arbitration clause that they signed when they were hired,” she said, noting that many of these individuals are not even aware that their employment contract contains  a forced arbitration clause.

According to Gillibrand, the contract “traps those who experience workplace discrimination in a system that advantages their employer — preventing them from seeking information that could help to prove their case. And victims are left in the hands of an extrajudicial arbitrator who is often selected by their employer and not always a trained lawyer,” she says.

At this hearing, witnesses also called this practice “fundamentally unfair” that suppresses age discrimination claims, favors employers and hides misconduct from the public, effecting blocking older workers from their seventh Amendment constitutional rights to a jury trial without their full consent.

Bill Restores Right to Sue for Discrimination

During the Senate panel hearing, Ranking Member Gillibrand called for the passage of a bipartisan legislative proposal, S. 2703, entitled the Protecting Older Americans Act, which she introduced alongside Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) to protect seniors facing age discrimination at work. This common-sense legislation, introduced the day of the hearing and referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, would invalidate forced arbitration clauses that prevent age discrimination victims from seeking justice and public accountability, ensuring that seniors can file their cases in court.

According to a statement released by Gillibrand, the bipartisan proposal would allow those who have experienced age discrimination the option to file their case in court if they choose, even if they previously signed a forced arbitration clause. It gives them a voice in the process and the ability to seek justice.

But, if employees decide, though, that they would like to pursue arbitration when they have faced age discrimination, they can. The point is that employees will now have a choice. The crux of the issue is that despite the fact that workplace age discrimination is categorically illegal, and that Congress has already passed laws to protect older Americans from it, forced arbitration clauses subvert justice, noted the statement.

Meanwhile, several witnesses drew parallels to the successful Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021, signed into law in 2022 by President Joe Biden, which ended forced arbitration in cases of sexual harassment and assault. They argued that fears of excessive litigation following its passage were unfounded. The discussion also identified other policy barriers facing older workers, pointing to the Social Security’s retirement earnings test, that was identified as a disincentive that discouraged older workers from remaining in the workforce.

Targeting Hidden Job Contract Barriers

The hearing, featuring testimony from expert witnesses, including representatives from the Washington, D.C. based AARP—the nation’s largest aging advocacy group with 35 million members—a former Fox News journalist, an academic, and a conservative policy foundation, emphasized the importance of creating equal opportunities for older workers, especially as the nation’s population continues to age and many choose to continue working later in life.

Witnesses at this hearing shared insights on the specific challenges faced by seniors in the workplace and discussed how employers, communities, and lawmakers can take action to protect older workers.

Throughout the hearing, lasting over an hour, these witnesses warned that age discrimination has become widespread and an economically damaging problem that financially and emotionally harms older Americans.  Older workers contributed positively to America’s businesses and to the economy by bringing their life-long work experience, and mentorship to younger workers to the workplace, they stressed.

“Talk to older job seekers and they’ll tell you they hear things in interviews like you’re overqualified. We’re looking for a digital native or a more energetic candidate. This is undermining the financial stability of too many capable Americans,” said Nancy LeaMond, Chief Advocacy and Engagement Officer for AARP.

LeaMond stressed that age discrimination was a pervasive issue, with nearly two-thirds of workers over 50 having seen or experienced it. She highlighted the severe economic consequences, noting it cost the U.S. economy $850 billion annually (a figure projected to reach nearly $4 trillion by 2050) and was particularly damaging for the many older Americans who lacked adequate retirement savings and needed to continue working.

Often because of necessity or choice, older Americans need to work, says LeaMond. Federal Reserve data indicated that 54% of households had no retirement savings, underscoring the financial need for many older Americans to work longer, she said.

The impact on losing a job for an older worker can be profound, notes LeaMond. She cited an Urban Institute Study that found that about half of workers in their early 50s experience involuntary job loss that sharply reduces earnings forcing them into long-term unemployment – something that older workers face at higher rates than younger peers.

While AARP endorses Ranking Member Gillibrand’s bipartisan proposal, S. 2703, she also called for passage of Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Grassley bill (R-IA),  S. 1820, The Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act. Representative Robert C. “Bobby” Scott  (D-VA) has introduced H. 3522, the House companion measure.

Witness David Horton, Professor of Law at the University of California, Davis, with a specialty in arbitration law and contracts, argued that forced employment arbitration in wrong doings, such as age discrimination, was not consensual, as employees had no real choice when accepting a job. “Studies confirm what our intuition tells us: workers are bombarded with information, their eyes glaze over at the legalese, and very few realize that they are surrendering their right to access the courts,” he testified.

Horton further explained that arbitration had systemic flaws that disadvantaged employees, such as the “repeat player” problem where arbitrators have a financial incentive to favor employers, and the inability to bring class-action claims. Horton, who holds the Fair Business Practices & Investor Advocacy Endowed Chair, concluded that forced arbitration’s purpose was not to resolve disputes, but to suppress them.

Meanwhile, witness Gretchen Carlson, a former Fox News journalist who is co-founder of the non-profit Lift Our Voices, shared her personal experience and her successful advocacy to pass the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act. She argued that the fears of a “slew” of lawsuits following that bill’s passage did not happen, and she believed the same would be true for the Protecting Older Americans Act. She framed the issue as a fundamental matter of the ”freedom of choice” and restoring workers’ Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial.

“In my unscientific study…over nine and a half years, “the vast majority say that when they’re forced into arbitration, never work in their chosen profession ever again… there’s a myriad of problems here, but to me, forced arbitration is the evil,” said Carlson.

Speaking Out Against Outdated Policies

Witness Rachel U. Greszler, Senior Research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, focused on the older worker’s value and impact on the economy and society.  She identified public policies, primarily Social Security’s retirement earning test, calling it an outdated policy that would discourage work for older workers.  She also criticized regulations on independent contractors that limited flexible part-time work opportunities for older workers.

The testimony at this hearing, combining expert observations with personal stories, is intended to raise public awareness and increase political pressure on a divided Congress to act in protecting the legal rights of older workers from age discrimination hidden in the very fine print of employment contracts.

To watch the hearing, go to https://www.aging.senate.gov/hearings/protecting-older-americans-leveling-the-playing-field-for-older-workers

Oxfam Report: Elites Get Richer; Poor Poorer

Published in Pawtucket Times, January 24, 2014

Just a week before the 44th annual gathering of the global elite at World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Oxford, England-based Oxfam International released a scathing report claiming that global wealth rests in the hands of just a few very rich people.

According to the report released on Jan. 20, co-authored by Ricardo Fuentes-Nieva, Head of Research, Oxfam Great Britain and Nicholas Galasso, Research and Policy Advisor, Oxfam America, 85 of the wealthiest people own the same amount of wealth as the bottom half of the world’s population.

Widening Income Gap Between Wealthy and Poor

Oxfam’s 31 page report, “Working for the Few,” warns that almost half of the world’s wealth concentrated in just one percent of the population, is a real threat to inclusive political and economic systems, and compounds other economic inequalities – such as those between women and men. The authors say, left unchecked, political institutions are undermined and governments overwhelmingly serve the interests of economic elites – to the detriment of the poor and middle class.

Today the gap between the rich and poor has become wider, with the wealth of the one percent richest people in the world amounting to $110 trillion, adds the report, around 65 times the total wealth of the bottom half of the world’s population. In the United States, the wealthiest one percent captured 95 percent of post-financial crisis growth since 2009, while the bottom 90 percent became poorer.

“Without a concerted effort to tackle inequality, the cascade of privilege and of disadvantage will continue down the generations,” warns Oxfam’s Executive Director, Winnie Byanyima, in her statement announcing the release of her group’s report. She leads the world-wide development organization comprised of 17 organizations working in 90 countries to find solutions to poverty and related injustice around the world.

Byanyima, a grass-roots activist, human rights advocate and a world recognized expert on women’s rights, who plans to attend the Davos meeting, observes, “It is staggering that in the 21st Century, half of the world’s population owns no more than tiny elite whose numbers could all sit comfortably in a single train carriage.”

“We cannot hope to win the fight against poverty without tackling inequality. Widening inequality is creating a vicious circle where wealth and power are increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few, leaving the rest of us to fight over crumbs from the top table,” says Bryanyima.

Bryanyima adds, “In developed and developing countries alike, we are increasingly living in a world where the lowest tax rates, the best health and education and the opportunity to influence are being given not just to the rich but also to their children.”

“Without a concerted effort to tackle inequality, the cascade of privilege and of disadvantage will continue down the generations,” states Bryanyima, noting that “We will soon live in a world where equality of opportunity is just a dream.”

Specific policies have widened the income gap between the rich and poor over the last decades, including financial deregulation, tax havens and secrecy, anti-competitive business practice, lower tax rates on high incomes and investments and cuts or underinvestment in public services for the majority. For instance, since the late 1970s, tax rates for the richest have fallen in 29 of the 30 countries for which data are available. In these places the rich not only get more money but also pay less tax on it.

Oxfam’s report calls on those gathered at this week’s World Economic Forum to take tackle inequity by cracking down on financial secrecy and tax dodging, including investing in universal education and healthcare; demand a living wage in all companies, and agreeing a global goal to end extreme inequality in every country.

Inequity in Our Back Yard, Too

Commenting on Oxfam’s report release, Robert B. Reich, former Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton who now serves as Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, notes that inequality in the United State is not “that far off” from other countries. “Here, the 400 richest Americans have more wealth than the bottom 150 million Americans put together. We’re getting close to a tipping point where inequality undermines our economy (because the vast middle class doesn’t have the purchasing power to keep the economy going), hurts our democracy (because a handful of extremely rich individuals can control politics), and causes most people to feel the dice are loaded against them, he says.

Reich’s award-winning documentary “Inequality for All” — now out on iTunes, DVD, and On Demand — explains the roots of inequality, in the U.S. and around the world. For details, go to http://www.inequalityforall.com.

Kate Brewster, Executive Director of Rhode Island’s The Economic Progress Institute, notes that Oxfam’s report puts the growing problem of inequality on the world stage. “As the experts point out, inequality is not inevitable, but a manmade problem that can be tackled with policies that reward everyone for hard work, not just a few,” she says.

“Rhode Island has not escaped this disturbing trend,” states Brewster. According to a report issued by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the Ocean State experienced the 9th largest increase in income inequality in the country between the late 1970s and mid-2000s. During this time the income of the top fifth rose by 99 percent while the bottom fifth grew by only 12 percent, she says.

Legislative Fixes to Reduce Income Gap

Brewster says there are two “two concrete policies” that the Rhode Island General Assembly could enact this legislative session that would immediately boost the income of low-income Rhode Islanders and begin to reverse this trend, specifically increasing the state’s minimum wage and increasing the refund available through the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit. “The latter would not only boost the income of low-wage workers but also bring more equity to a tax structure that has provided significant tax breaks to wealthy individuals and businesses for years,” she says.

Advocate Susan Sweet, a former state official and lobbyist for nonprofit groups, notes that while Rhode Island and the nation don’t have an overwhelming majority of citizens suffering the worst extremes of poverty such as starvation, homelessness and societal abandonment that exists in some other countries, we have our share. We also have a large and expanding underclass of counter culture and underground economy that serves to hurt the cohesiveness of society,” says the Rumford resident.

Sweet worries about the income gap between the poor and wealthy that will happen in years to come because of state policies. “The state took millions away from retired people who are receiving an average of $25,000 a year in their state pension and are in their seventies on average. The state gambled on the Studio 38 boondoggle, sold these risky bonds to unknown parties, and want to pay these gambling debts back to the investors because they have a ‘moral obligation’ to do so. Where is the moral obligation to those who performed their responsibilities by working for the state for many years with the promise of a secure retirement?” she says.

And what does she expect to see coming out of the General Assembly? “This year we will hear rhetoric to raise the absurdly low minimum wage in the nation and in the state, but not enough to give workers a decent living wage; we will hear promises to improve education, while students that have tried to achieve under great odds will be denied high school diplomas while the educational infrastructure remains in place and unchanging; we will be assured that the key to R.I.’s unyielding high unemployment rate has been found – again; and we will continue on the path of inequality.”

Oak Hill resident, Lisa Roseman Beade, an academic tutor who is been active in Progressive causes, says the U.S. has the widest income gap of any developing nation. “’Trickle down economics’ has turned into “vacuum upwards economics”. We need fair wages and fair and equitable taxation rates to circulate the money. That’s what puts people to work and will reduce the widening income gap between the nation’s wealthy and poor. Instead, workers, who have been breaking the bar in productivity year after year, now receive only 1 percent of the record breaking profits.”

Beade calls for keeping corporate dollars out of politics and supports the creation of a single payer healthcare system that would make healthcare a civil right.

She believes that change will only come when “we all stop the scape-goating teachers and workers and public employees and demand that we all have good wages, good benefits and good pensions and by restoring state levels to those pre-1998. If lower taxes create jobs, and taxes have never been lower…where are the jobs?”

“A vibrant, safe and livable community with good community services can only come if everyone earns enough and everyone pays their fair share of taxes. Let’s make paying taxes patriotic again,” says Beade.

A Final Note…

It’s time to hammer out a comprehensive legislative fix to reducing the wide income gap between the Ocean State’s wealthy and poor. Let those declared candidates for Governor come out with detailed briefing papers, unveiling their comprehensive approach to enable Rhode Islanders to finally make a living wage. That is tell the voters how you will close the income gap between the state’s have and have nots. Let the debate begin.

Herb Weiss, LRI ’12, is a writer who covers aging, health care, medical issues and Rhode Island’s political scene.