This Interview on FOX 5 NY discusses a lawsuit filed against New York City Mayor Eric Adams accusing him of sexually assaulting a woman in 1993 while they both worked for the city. Attorney Andrew Lieb provides context on the legal process, explaining that the initial filing only included a summons with notice to meet the deadline under the Adult Survivors Act, which is now expired - but, this case also involves the NYC Gender Motivated Violence Act, which extends the statute of limitations on old cases, like this, until March 1, 2025.
Showing posts with label sexual assault. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sexual assault. Show all posts
Thursday, November 30, 2023
Thursday, December 08, 2022
On December 7, 2022, President Biden signed the Speak Out Act into law.
Now, nondisclosure and nondisparagement contract clauses relating to sexual assault disputes and sexual harassment disputes are unenforceable if they were agreed to before the dispute arises.
According to the Act, a nondisclosure clause means "a provision in a contract or agreement that requires the parties to the contract or agreement not to disclose or discuss conduct, the existence of a settlement involving conduct, or information covered by the terms and conditions of the contract or agreement" whereas a nondisparagement clause means "a provision in a contract or agreement that requires 1 or more parties to the contract or agreement not to make a negative statement about another party that relates to the contract, agreement, claim, or case."
This is a major law - make not mistake.
While states like New York go even further than this protection for victims, at CPLR 5003-b and General Obligations Law 5-336, and that increased protection remains enforceable, most states don't protect victims from being preemptively silenced.
With this increased nationwide protection, hopefully we can solve the horrific statistic that an "estimated 87 to 94 percent of those who experience sexual harassment never file a formal complaint." Victims need to be empowered to stand-up for their rights, not the other way around.
Thursday, March 31, 2022
The Stop Sexual Assault and Harassment in Transportation Act passed the House on March 30, 2022 and now makes its way to the senate.
If passed, the Act will require airlines, railroads, vessels, buses, and transit entities (e.g., Uber / Lyft) to establish "a formal policy with respect to transportation sexual assault or harassment incidents" together with appropriate trainings.
It is specifically designed to notice, warn, prevent, and combat sexual assault and harassment by the public and staff making transportation safe for all involved.
The Act establishes civil penalties against harassers starting at $35,000.
Shouldn't it be safe to travel and shouldn't it be safe to work in transit?
Friday, March 04, 2022
Victims of sexual harassment and sexual assault can now proceed in a class action, with other victims, and can also litigate their case in court, individually or collectively, regardless of having previously executed an arbitration agreement.
This is really important because powerful companies have traditionally forced their employees and independent contractors to sign predispute joint-action waivers, which prevent victims from bringing joint, class, or collective actions against those companies for sexual harassment and sexual assault. The Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021 invalidated such waivers. Now, victims can work collectively and take on powerful companies in court in the same way that a union equalizes employee bargaining power at the proverbial negotiating table.
The Act also invalidates mandatory arbitration agreements, which heavily favor companies who regularly pay the same arbitrators, know their rules, have relationships, and win a vast majority of the time.
To learn more about this new law, here is an audio recording of my appearance on The Jay Oliver Show explaining the importance of the law right after it was passed by the Senate. To be clear, the recording misstates the law's effectiveness to past claims. The law only applies to claims that "arise[] or accrue[] on or after the date of enactment," which was March 2, 2022.
