Four days after 20-year-old Jamie Leigh Jones arrived in Iraq to begin work as a computer technician for defense contractor KBR, she awoke in her barracks naked, bruised and bleeding.
Jamie had no memory of what had happened to her. An examination performed by an Army doctor revealed the truth: She had been brutally raped.
Jamie had complained twice before to her employer about being sexually harassed. When she asked to be moved from the barracks, which she shared with 400 men, she was mocked and told to “go to the spa.”
Then, on her third night, Jamie accepted a drink from a group of male coworkers. They drugged her and gang-raped her, so brutally that she’s had to undergo reconstructive surgery.
When Jamie attempted to report the crime, KBR personnel locked her in a shipping container and placed her under armed guard. Twenty-four hours later, one of the guards took pity and let Jamie use his cell phone to call her father in Texas. Jamie’s dad enlisted the help of the State Department and of their congressman — Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas — who secured her safe return to the United States.
Jamie’s ordeal did not end when she returned to American soil. KBR — then a Halliburton subsidiary — refused to take any action against her attackers. When Jamie tried to take KBR to court, the contractor took the position that a clause in her 13-page contract prevented her from suing. Instead, she would be forced to go through a closed-door “arbitration” process run by KBR itself.
When I heard this story, I was outraged.
How, in 2009, can a large U.S. corporation maintain a culture of tolerance for assault and abuse within its own ranks? How can a company that purports to support our men and women in uniform and our defense missions overseas deny an American citizen her day in court?
In an era in which government has delegated significant responsibility and taxpayer dollars to private contractors in supporting our military, Congress has even greater responsibility to monitor how these contractors do business.
No corporation — no matter how powerful, how well-connected, how seemingly impenetrable — should be permitted to rob its workers of their rights.
But that’s exactly what happens when someone signs up to work for companies like KBR. Most people don’t realize it when they’re signing a stack of employment papers, but they’re agreeing to give up their right to have their day in court.
In arbitration, there is no public record of the proceedings, no transparency and no accountability. It’s the employer that typically pays for — and in some cases, even selects — the arbitrator. That’s why in rape cases, the outcome of the binding arbitration has stipulated that the victim remain silent. There is no way for the next 20-year-old woman who signs up to work for KBR to hear about what happened to Jamie Leigh Jones.
This is wrong. And Jones knew it. This courageous young woman, who now teaches in a Christian middle school in Houston, started fighting to get her day in court. Four years later, she’s still fighting. After one court ruled that she had the right to sue, Halliburton and KBR appealed.
That’s why I introduced an amendment to the 2010 Department of Defense Appropriations bill that will deny taxpayer dollars to defense contractors that restrict their employees’ due process rights. My amendment said that corporations that bar workers from litigating for sexual assault and other discrimination and civil rights claims would also be barred from receiving government contracts.
I am proud that the Jamie Leigh Jones Amendment — endorsed by 61 Minnesota and national organizations — passed the Senate by a 68-30 vote.
And I was glad that the courageous young woman who inspired it was watching from the gallery.
Final votes this week turned the bill into law. When Jamie and I spoke by phone on Wednesday, we were both overjoyed. I told her that she’s not just one of the bravest women I’ve met; she’s also one of the strongest. She told me she was excited that she’d be having what she hopes will be her last reconstructive surgery — on Christmas Eve.
I’m glad we were able to begin holding defense contractors accountable for their behavior, and to help Jamie help others.
This column was published in the Star Tribune on December 21, 2009.
http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentary/79683592.html?elr=KArksc8P:Pc:U0ckkD:aEyKUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU
